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. In Indian state of Gujarat it is used to make 'patra' a dish with the leaves of the plant along with tamarind and other spices.
China and Hong Kong
Taro is commonly used within Chinese cuisine in a variety of styles, mainly as an ingredient. It is commonly braised with pork or beef. It is 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. The taro cake is also a delicacy traditionally eaten during the Chinese New Year.
Japan and Taiwan
In Japan and Taiwan, 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.
South Korea
In South Korea, it is called toran (토란) meaning "egg from earth", and the corm is stewed and the leaf stem is stir-fried.
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.
Philippines
In the Philippines, taro is called gabi and is usually made alone (steamed) as a dessert or together with other ingredients to cook cakes, ice creams, and puddings.
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 loʻi in Hawaiian. The picture below shows several small loʻi in Maunawili Valley on Oahu. The ditch on the left in the picture is called an ʻauwai and supplies diverted stream water to the loʻi. 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.
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