'Taro' (from
Tahitian or other
Polynesian languages), more rarely 'kalo' (from
Hawaiian), is a tropical plant grown primarily as a
vegetable food for its edible
corm, and secondarily as a
leaf vegetable. It is believed to be one of the earliest cultivated plants.
[1] Taro is closely related to ''
Xanthosoma'' and ''
Caladium'', plants commonly grown as
ornamentals, and like them it is sometimes loosely called 'elephant ear'. In its raw form the plant is toxic due to the presence of
calcium oxalate,
[2][3] although the toxin is destroyed by cooking.
Names
Taro and domesticated ''Xanthosoma'' species share substantially the same uses, and several names, including 'callaloo' and 'coco' or 'cocoyam'. Taro may be distinguished as "taro cocoyam" or "old cocoyam". Its scientific name is ''Colocasia esculenta'' (synonym ''C. antiquorum''). Esculent is an English word taken directly from Latin and means edible.
In Kenya, taro root is referred to as "arrow root". Also known as
ndŭma in
Kikuyu.
Uses
The small round variety is
peeled and boiled, sold either
frozen, bagged in its own liquids, or
canned. The plant is actually inedible when raw because of needle-shaped
raphides in the plant cells.
Typical of leaf vegetables, taro leaves are rich in
vitamins and
minerals. They are a good source of
thiamin,
riboflavin,
iron,
phosphorus, and
zinc, and a very good source of
vitamin B6,
vitamin C,
niacin,
potassium,
copper, and
manganese. Taro corms are very high in
starch, and are a good source of
dietary fiber.
Oxalic acid may be present in the corm and especially in the leaf, and these foods should be eaten with milk or other foods rich in calcium so as to remove the risks posed by ingesting the free oxalic radical especially for people with
kidney disorders,
gout, or
rheumatoid arthritis. Calcium reacts with the oxalate to form calcium oxalate which is very insoluble.
South Asia
Taro is extensively used in
South Asia. In
South India's
Kerala state, it is used as a staple food, as a side dish, or as a component in various side dishes. As a staple food it is steamed, and eaten with a chutney of green pepper and shallot onions. The leaves and stems of certain varieties of taro are used as a vegetable in Kerala. A tree-growing variety of taro is extensively used in the western coast of India to make "patrade" or "patrada", literally "leaf-pancake". These are either made like fritters, or are steamed and eaten.
In Nepal, it is considered a health food with variety of cooking styles. Most common style is boiling it in salty water in iron cooking pots till it becomes like porridge. Another style is to steam the young leaves called 'gava', sun-dry and then store it for later use. For another variety of the taro leaves and stems are used raw as an ingredient for pickle. The leaves and stems are mixed with black lentil and then dried as small balls and used later on. The stems are also sun-dried and stored for later use. On One special day, women worship 'saptarshi- seven sages' and have rice with taro leaf vegetable only.
China and Hong Kong
Taro is commonly used within
Chinese cuisine in a variety of styles, mainly as an ingredient. It is often used in ''
nian gao'', a dense pudding made from
glutinous rice flour mixed with mashed taro, and eaten during the
Chinese New Year. It is also used in the
dim sum cuisine of southern China to make a small plated dish called
taro dumpling, as well as a pan-fried dish called
taro cake. It is also woven to form a
seafood birdsnest.
Japan
In
Japan,
supermarket varieties range from about the size and shape of a
brussels sprout to longer, larger varieties the size of an adult male's fist. Taro chips are often used as a potato chip-like snack. Compared to potato chips, taro chips are harder and have a more assertive nutty flavor. They are generally made from upland taro because of their lower moisture content.
Vietnam
In Vietnam, where taro is called ''khoai môn'' or ''khoai sọ'', it is used as a filling in
spring rolls, cakes, puddings, and other desserts.
United States
In
Hawaii, taro is a traditional staple, as in many tropical areas of the world, and is the base for making ''
poi''. In
Chinatowns, people often use taro in
Chinese cuisine, though it is not consumed or popularized nearly as much as in Asian and Pacific nations. Since the late 20th century, taro chips have been available in many supermarkets and natural food stores. In the 1920's, dasheen, as it was known, was highly touted by the Secretary of the Florida Department of Agriculture as a valuable crop for growth in muck fields. Fellsmere Florida, near the east coast, was a farming area deemed perfect for growing dasheen. It was used in place of potatoes and dried to make flour. Dasheen flour was said to make excellent pancakes when mixed with wheat flour.
Cultivation
Taro can be grown in
paddy fields or in upland situations where watering is supplied by rainfall or by supplemental irrigation. Some varieties of taro can also be grown away from the tropics.
Hawaii
Taro is usually grown in pondfields called ''loi'' in Hawaiian. The picture below shows several small ''loi'' in
Maunawili Valley on
Oahu. The ditch on the left in the picture is called an ''auwai'' and supplies diverted stream water to the ''loi''. Cool, flowing water yields the best crop. Some of the taro plants in the foreground have been harvested and the caretakers are preparing to replant the ''huli'' stacked at their feet. These are the top portion of the corm with a short piece of bladeless leafstem.
Typical dryland or upland varieties (varieties grown in watered but not flooded fields) in Hawaii are ''lehua maoli'' and 'bun long', the latter widely known as Chinese taro. ''Bun long'' is used for making taro chips. ''Dasheen'' (also called "eddo") is another "dryland" variety of ''C. esculenta'' grown for its edible corms or sometimes just as an ornamental plant.
The Hawaii Agricultural Statistics Service puts the 10-year median production of taro in the Hawaiian Islands at about 6.1 million pounds (2,800 t; Viotti, 2004). However, 2003 taro production in Hawaii was only 5 million pounds (2,300 t), an all-time low (record keeping started in 1946). The previous low, reached in 1997, was 5.5 million pounds (2,500 t). Yet, despite generally growing demand, production was even lower in 2005: only 4 million pounds, with ''kalo'' for processing into ''poi'' accounting for 97.5% (Hao, 2006). Urbanization has driven down harvests from a high of 14.1 million pounds (6,400 t) in 1948. But more recently the decline has resulted from pests and diseases. A non-native
apple snail (''Pomacea canaliculata'') is a major culprit in the current crop declines. Also, a plant rot disease, traced to a newly identified species of the
fungal genus, ''
Phytophthora'', now plagues crops throughout the state. Although pesticides could control both pests to some extent, pesticide use in the pondfields is barred because of the clear opportunity for chemicals to quickly migrate into streams and then into the ocean (Viotti, 2004; Hao, 2006).
Fiji
Although taro has been a staple of the indigenous Fijian diet for centuries, its growth as a commercial crop can be said to have begun in 1993 when the taro leaf blight decimated the taro industry in neighboring Samoa. Fiji filled the void and was soon supplying taro to the large Polynesian populations of New Zealand, Australia, and Los Angeles in the United States.
Almost 80% of Fiji's exported taro comes from the Island of
Taveuni.
Currently, the Fijian taro industry is under threat from the taro beetle, with the Land Resources Division of the Secretariat of the Pacific Community (SPC) conducting research into how best to control this pest.
See also
★
Aquatic plants
★
Limahuli Garden
Images
References
1. Country profile: Samoa, New Agriculturist Online new-agri.co, accessed June 12, 2006
2. http://www.weird-food.com/weird-food-vegetable.html
3. http://www.aspca.org/site/PageServer?pagename=pro_apcc_toxic_tarovine
4. Faostat
★ Hao, Sean. 2006. "Rain, pests and disease shrink taro production to record low". ''Honolulu Advertiser'', February 2, 2006, p. C1.
★ Stephens, James M. 1994. Dasheen –– ''Colocasia exculenta'' (L.) Schott. Fact Sheet HS-592 from a series of the Horticultural Sciences Department, Florida Cooperative Extension Service, Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences, University of Florida. May 1994.
edis
★
Taro climate at Green-Seeds.com (taro growing methods)
★
Taveuni Taro at fijitaro.com (Fiji taro industry history)
★ Viotti, V. 2004. ''Honolulu Advertiser'', March 16, 2004.
★ Wagner, W. L., D. R. Herbst, and S. H. Sohmer. 1999. ''Manual of the Flowering Plants of Hawai‘i. Revised edition''. Vol. 2. Univ. of Hawei‘i Press/Bishop Museum Press. p. 1357.
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