Nutritional properties, traditional uses and potential new applications for the sotol plant (Asparagaceae, Convallarioideae): A review

Societal Impact Statement Sotol ( Dasylirion spp.) is a resilient desert plant that sustains ecosystems, cultures and livelihoods in Chihuahua Desert. Our review highlights its nutritional properties, traditional uses and potential new applications in food, pharmaceuticals, renewable energy and water remediation. By synthesizing evidence across disciplines, we show how sotol can contribute to food security, rural economic development and climate resilience while supporting Indigenous knowledge and cultural identity. However, increasing demand threatens wild populations. We emphasize the urgent need for sustainable cultivation and conservation strategies to ensure sotol's continued role as a biocultural and ecological resource for people and the planet. Summary The sotol plant is an endemic rosetophyte of the Chihuahuan Desert. It represents a valuable biocultural resource of critical ecological, chemical and anthropological significance. Sotol thrives in arid conditions thanks to its crassulacean acid metabolism. Ecologically it serves as a key species in preventing soil erosion. Its high concentrations of complex fructose polymers (fructans) function as an adaptation to water stress while also providing the basis for traditional and modern industrial applications. These fructans exhibit prebiotic properties and offer potential as functional‐food ingredients and pharmaceutical excipients. Anthropologically, sotol has for centuries been woven deeply into the cultural fabric of northern Mexico, artisanaly distilled into a protected denomination‐of‐origin spirit, crafted into religious arches and baskets and utilized as a famine food. However, growing commercial demand now threatens the wild populations, creating urgent sustainability challenges. This review synthesises evidence across disciplines to illuminate how sotol's ecological resilience underpins its unique biochemistry, which in turn has shaped its cultural uses. We explore its potential in emerging applications—from second‐generation biofuels and biocomposites to heavy‐metal bioremediation—that could promote sustainable economic development. We conclude that efforts must be made to prioritise sustainable cultivation, value‐added processing and equitable benefit‐sharing to ensure the conservation of this remarkable plant and the preservation of the traditional knowledge it supports.