“The mysterious <common thing> that has baffled <expert professionals> for <inordinate amount of time>”
— Click bait sub editor
— Click bait sub editor
> So why is there still doubt about the identity of this snack? “Which species of agave is it—Sisalana or Americana or any other?” Dr. Shimpale says. “We can’t conclude until the vendors show the plant to us. They keep this as a business secret to create curiosity around it.”
The vendors won't give them access to the source, so the academics can't practice their botany.
You may not have seen this before, but that doesn't mean it is "mysterious".
Do you find Coke or KFC "mysterious"? Those are snack foods with trade secret recipes. Your story is about something similar.
A simple google search will take you to this youtube video, posted in 2015. Read the comments to dispel the "mystery".
This makes the product application of the root even less mysterious:
"It was seasoned with salt, chili powder, and lime; my husband’s had sugar and lime. It was crunchy, juicy, and refreshing, but had no taste of its own."
The whole thing is fascinating. It's a low-stakes mystery, but a mystery all the same.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raphide in agave can be toxic. And the fact that it is only sold in paper thin strips. My guess is the vendors are aware that it is poison but in those parts of the world life is cheap and money is hard to come by. So they just ignore this and carry on selling it. Anyone asking might be there investigating the cause of some of their health issues.
What do your experts make of this wikipedia article?
> I had a breakthrough a few months later when I came across a thesis paper by Dr. MS Rathore, who had propagated Maerua oblongifolia in the lab in 2011. He had seen the tree many times in the desert state of Rajasthan. “But I haven’t heard or seen anybody eating the root,” the scientist said over a call, sounding puzzled.
> “Its roots are sparse and inedible,” added Dr. NS Shekhawat, his thesis adviser and a retired professor of botany. “Growing in dry regions, where will it have so much water to develop big roots and be fat and juicy? [The snack] can’t be Maerua oblongifolia.”
Which seems to provide a little bit of a counterpoint.