Taro
i]]. The plant is actually inedible if ingested raw because of needle-shaped
raphides in the plant cells. Severe
gastrointestinal distress can occur unless the plant is properly processed first.
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, vitamin B6, and manganese.
Oxalic acid may be present in the corm and especially in the leaf, and these foods should be avoided or eaten in moderation by people with
kidney disorders,
gout, or
rheumatoid arthritis.
Taro is typically boiled, stewed, or sliced and fried as
tempura. The small round variety is
peeled and boiled, sold either
frozen, bagged in its own liquids, or
canned. In China, taro is called 芋头 or 芋é (
yù tÇ'u in Mandarin; or
wu tao or
wu tau in Cantonese) and is often used as an ingredient in
niangao, a dense pudding made from
glutinous rice flour mixed with mashed taro, and eaten during
Chinese New Year.
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, in places such as
Korea and
Japan. In Korea, taro is called
toran (í† ëž€) meaning "egg from earth", and the corm is stewed and the leaf stem is stir-fried. The taro corm is called
sato-imo (里芋) in Japanese and
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. They have a more distinct taste than that of a regular potato chip.
Taro is usually grown in pondfields called
loi in Hawaiian. The picture below shows several small
lo‘i in
Maunawili Valley on
O‘ahu. 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.
 |
Several small lo‘i or pondfields in which taro (or kalo) is being grown in Hawai‘i |
Typical dryland or upland varieties (varieties grown in watered but not flooded fields) in Hawai‘i 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 Hawai'i 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 Hawai'i 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).
*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 growiing methods)
* 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.
See also:
*
Aquatic plants 
