It is a popular leaf vegetable in some regional Mexican and other Central American cuisines, used similarly to cooked Swiss chard or spinach.

Care should be taken to avoid getting any raw plant material into one’s mucous membranes; i.e., the sap, juice and hydrocyanic acids should, ideally, never contact one’s mouth, eyes, genitals, nose, inner ears or any otherwise open wound or injury.

Varying complications can arise from this, ranging from simple irritation to severe burning pain, temporary blindness (if contact is made with the eyes) and loss of smell or taste (in the nose or mouth).

Propagation is normally by woody stem cuttings about 6-12 inches long, as seeds are produced only rarely.

In this, chaya is similar to cassava, which also contains toxic hydrocyanic glycosides and must be cooked before being eaten.

[12] Cooking in aluminum utensils can result in a toxic broth, causing diarrhea,[13] so aluminium cookware should be avoided.

[8] Young chaya leaves and the thick, tender stem tips are cut and boiled as a spinach.

[10] In fact, levels of chaya leaf nutrients are two-to-threefold greater than any other land-based leafy green vegetable.

[14] Traditionally, leaves are immersed and simmered for 20 minutes and then served with oil or butter.