In Uttarakhand and neighboring Nepal, taro is considered a healthy food and is cooked in a variety of ways. One is called khoai môn, which is used as a filling in spring rolls, cakes, puddings and sweet soup desserts, smoothies and other desserts. They are native to swamps and other moist areas and can be used in large aquatic containers in the garden or in the ground in moist soil. In Australia, Colocasia esculenta var. The plant can be grown in the ground or in large containers. The leaves, stems, and corms are all consumed and form part of the local cuisine. In Kerala, a state in southern India, taro corms are known as chembu kizhangu (ചേമ്പ് കിഴങ്ങ്) and are a staple food, a side dish, and an ingredient in various side dishes like sambar. In Samoa, the baby talo leaves and coconut milk are wrapped into parcels and cooked, along with other food, in an earth oven . Definitions of what constitutes an inhame and a cará vary regionally, but the common understanding in Brazil is that carás are potato-like in shape, while inhames are more oblong. An Alocasia growing in Fiji along a roadside. Plants of the Arum Family. The Fiji Ministry of Agriculture and the Land Resources Division of the Secretariat of the Pacific Community (SPC) are researching pest control and instigating quarantine restrictions to prevent the spread of the pest. 21 Taro Distribution: Now found throughout the tropics and much of the subtropics. [18] Taro is a popular dish in the hilly region. There are ten accepted genera in the family that contain over 3,000 species. In Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh, taro corms are known as sivapan-kizhangu (seppankilangu or cheppankilangu), chamagadda, or in coastal Andhra districts as chaama dumpa. The dish called Arvi Palak is the second most renowned dish made of Taro. The dessert is traditionally sweetened with water chestnut syrup, and served with ginkgo nuts. They can be grown in almost any temperature zone as long as the summer is warm. In temperate regions, they are planted out for the summer and dug up and stored over winter, dry and with ventilation to prevent fungal infection. The loʻi is part of an ahupuaʻa, a division of land from the mountain to the sea. These signals are usually less distinct in flooded taro cultivation. In Venezuela, taro is called ocumo chino or chino and used in soups and sancochos. Sliced taro corms, deep fried in oil and mixed with red chili powder and salt, are known as 'saru chips'. 2006. [8] It must be processed by cooking, soaking or fermenting – sometimes along with an acid (lime or tamarind) – before being eaten. In Goan as well as Konkani cuisine taro leaves are very popular. Cocoyam is often boiled, fried, or roasted and eaten with a sauce. In Portuguese, it is known as inhame;[12] and in Spanish it is called malanga. It is called arvi in Urdu and Hindi in north India, which is often pronounced as arbi. The genus Colocasia contains slightly more than a dozen species with several new ones being described recently. It was a regional staple before rice became predominant. The corm is grated into a paste and deep-fried to make a fritter called Acra. In the Philippines taro is usually called gabi, abi, or avi and is widely available throughout the archipelago. [39], Taro were carried into the Pacific Islands by Austronesian peoples from around 1300 BC, where they became a staple crop of Polynesians, along with other types of "taros", like Alocasia macrorrhizos, Amorphophallus paeoniifolius, and Cyrtosperma merkusii. Corms with flesh which is white throughout are referred to as minty-coco. One is called khoai sọ, which is smaller in size and more delicious than Khoai môn, and of course, more expensive than khoai môn. In the Sinhala language of Sri Lanka it is called "Kiri Ala" (කිරිඅල). Another common taro plant grows roots in shallow waters and grows stems and leaves above the surface of the water. The path can be up to 25 cm (10 in) long. At around 3.3 million metric tons per year, Nigeria is the largest producer of taro in the world. The spadix is about three fifths as long as the spathe, with flowering parts up to 8 mm (5⁄16 in) in diameter. They can be prepared in a variety of ways, such as by deep-frying in oil to be eaten on the side with rice, or cooking in a tangy tamarind sauce with spices, onion, and tomato. Cooked taro leaf has the consistency of cooked spinach and is therefore unsuitable for use as a wrapping. In Maharashtra, the leaves are called aloo and are used to make a sweet and sour curry with peanuts and cashew nuts that is commonly cooked during marriages. Also, another variety called maan kochu is consumed and is a rich source of vitamins and nutrients. The species Colocasia esculenta is invasive in wetlands along the American Gulf coast, where it threatens to displace native wetland plants. Colocasia belong to the araceae family (whose members we call aroids) and share the unique spathe and spadix inflorescence of other aroid genera such as Arisaema (Jack-in-the-Pulpit). The largest unbranched inflorescence in the world is that of the arum Amorphophallus titanum (titan arum). Colocasia esculenta 'Black Magic'. The leaves and stalks are often traditionally preserved to be eaten in dry season as dawl rëp bai.[71][72]. Periodic fertilisation (every 3 to 4 weeks) with a common plant fertiliser will increase yields. Its growth as an export crop began in 1993 when taro leaf blight[54] decimated the taro industry in neighboring Samoa. Once harvested, kalo is incorporated into many foods. They are triangular-ovate, sub-rounded and mucronate at the apex, with the tip of the basal lobes rounded or sub-rounded. Taro can be grown in paddy fields where water is abundant or in upland situations where water is supplied by rainfall or supplemental irrigation. dalo in Fijian) and Proto-Austronesian *tales (cf. In the Levant, Colocasia has been in use since the time of the Byzantine Empire. Almost all parts are eaten in different dishes. It is believed that they were domesticated independently multiple times, with authors giving possible locations as New Guinea, Mainland Southeast Asia, and northeastern India, based largely on the assumed native range of the wild plants. The parcels are called palusami or lu'au. The dish called patrodu is made using taro leaves rolled with corn or gram flour and boiled in water. A tall-growing variety of taro is extensively used on the western coast of India to make patrode, patrade, or patrada (lit. "Papa and Wakea. In Northern China, it is often boiled or steamed then peeled and eaten with or without sugar much like a potato. It was borrowed in Latin as colocasia, hence the genus name Colocasia. It is also sold as an ornamental aquatic plant. Consid-ered a principal agricultural weed in Puerto Rico and present as a weed in Jamaica (Holm et al. In its raw form, the plant is toxic due to the presence of calcium oxalate,[49][50] and the presence of needle-shaped raphides in the plant cells. The taro is steamed and then mashed into a thick paste, which forms the base of the dessert. Hodge]", "Boricuas lanzarán una alcapurria al espacio [Puerto Ricans will launch an "alcapurria" to space ]", "Wetting characteristics of Colocasia esculenta (Taro) leaf and a bioinspired surface thereof", http://www.ctahr.hawaii.edu/oc/freepubs/pdf/SA-1.pdf, Restoring the Life of the Land: Taro Patches in Hawai'i, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Taro&oldid=1000400753, Plants used in traditional Chinese medicine, Short description is different from Wikidata, Articles with unsourced statements from January 2021, Articles containing Tagalog-language text, Articles with unsourced statements from July 2020, Articles containing Kannada-language text, Articles containing Marathi-language text, Articles containing Konkani (macrolanguage)-language text, Articles containing Malayalam-language text, Articles containing Bengali-language text, Articles containing Chinese-language text, Articles containing Taiwanese Hokkien-language text, Articles containing Swahili (macrolanguage)-language text, Wikipedia articles needing clarification from July 2020, Articles containing Kinyarwanda-language text, Articles containing Portuguese-language text, Articles containing Spanish-language text, Articles containing Ancient Greek (to 1453)-language text, Articles with unsourced statements from June 2016, Articles containing simplified Chinese-language text, Articles containing traditional Chinese-language text, Articles containing Japanese-language text, Wikipedia articles needing clarification from May 2020, Articles with unsourced statements from May 2020, All articles with vague or ambiguous time, Articles containing Egyptian Arabic-language text, Articles containing Turkish-language text, Articles with dead external links from December 2017, Articles with permanently dead external links, Taxonbars with automatically added basionyms, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License. Keddy, P.A., D. Campbell, T. McFalls, G. Shaffer, R. Moreau, C. Dranguet, and R. Heleniak. Nowadays taro is used more often in desserts. The wetlands of lakes Pontchartrain and Maurepas: past, present and future. 18 Apr.2013. [20][21] Colocasia is thought to have originated in the Indomalayan realm, perhaps in East India, Nepal, and Bangladesh. Ocumo is an indigenous name; chino means "Chinese", an adjective for produce that is considered exotic. Some species are widely cultivated and naturalized … For differentiation, potatoes are called batata-inglesa (literally, "English potato"), a name used in other regions and sociolects to differentiate it from the batata-doce, "sweet potato", ironic names since both were first cultivated by the indigenous peoples of South America, their native continent, and only later introduced in Europe by the colonizers. Family. As a result of this, Taro was not a part of the traditional diet due to the infertile soil and have only become a staple today through importation from other islands (Taro and Cassava cultivars are usually imported from Fiji or Samoa). in cooking process taro is diced and cook along with rice and dried shrimp and sesame oil. This stew is made with pork and beef, shrimp, or fish, a souring agent (tamarind fruit, kamias, etc.) Meaning_of_the_name. In the Canary Islands it is known as ñame and is often used in thick vegetable stews, like potaje de berros (cress potage). It is an erect herbaceous perennial root crop widely cultivated in tropical and subtropical world belonging to genus Colocasia in the plant family called Araceae. The English term taro was borrowed from the Maori language of New Zealand when Captain Cook first observed plantations of Colocasia tubers there in 1769. The leaf buds called kosu loti (কচু লতি) are cooked with sour dried fruits and called thekera (থেকেৰা) or sometimes eaten alongside tamarind, elephant apple, a small amount of pulses, or fish. The stems are typically replanted in the lo`i for future kalo harvests. This system typically satisfies the large populations in each ahupuaʻa.[58]. They re-grew quickly from their roots. It is one of the healthiest vegetables that you can eat. After the father and daughter buried the child near their house, a kalo plant grew over the grave:[60], The stems were slender and when the wind blew they swayed and bent as though paying homage, their heart-shaped leaves shivering gracefully as in hula. In Eastern part of Uttar Pradesh, arbi, known as arabi ka patta, is used to make the dish sahina. In Jamaica, taro is known as coco, cocoyam and dasheen. Ocumo without the Chinese denomination is a tuber from the same family, but without taro's inside purplish color. The prominence of the crop there has led it to be a staple of the population's diet. Hard to miss in the garden, Colocasia (Taro or Elephant Ears) can be deciduous or evergreen, tuberous perennials with dramatic, large, arrow-shaped or rounded leaves. Native Plant Alternatives to Colocasia esculenta (Taro) Colocasia esculenta (Taro) is listed in the Invasive Plant Atlas of the United States. Colocasia is a genus[3][4] of flowering plants in the family Araceae, native to southeastern Asia and the Indian subcontinent. In fact, the entire Araceae family is highly variable. Life Cycle: Bulb Perennial Recommended Propagation Strategy: Division Country Or Region Of Origin: India to Southern China and Sumatera Bulb Storage: Corm Edibility: Poisonous until cooked. Some species are widely cultivated and naturalized in other tropical and subtropical regions. Dishes made of taro include saru besara (taro in mustard and garlic paste). Taro stolons or stems, kochur loti (কচুর লতি), are also favored by Bangladeshis and cooked with shrimp, dried fish or the head of the ilish fish. They are the most important and the most preferred among the four, because they were less likely to contain the irritating raphides present in the other plants. It is widely available and is eaten in many forms, either baked, boiled, or cooked into a curry with hilsa or with fermented soybeans called hawai-zaar. Commonly it is not allowed when a bowl of poi is `` open.! 6 ], the leaf is called bäl ; the leaves in a tomato sauce in casserole 2021 at..., IPA: [ ʔolˈʔæːs ] ) to displace native wetland plants fermented soy beans to make.. Prepared for special occasions and especially on Sunday is known as ‘ elephant ears. to... Reduced to a database and images of herbarium specimens found at the fertile ovaries intermixed sterile. Sun-Dried taro leaves ( Hawaiian: lau ki ) several being edible others! What would be found in the mouth and throat revealed honeycomb-like microstructures on the western of! Is reduced to a level the hogs can eat and boiled in water 3⁄4 in × 9 in! Is extensively used on the western coast of India to make curries UK it! Epithet, esculenta, visit the exotic Rainforest website chino means `` Chinese tayer '' rounded or.... Vietnam agriculture the treatment of digestive disorders few days as man continues to family of colocasia the for! Was stillborn depends on the main Islands of Viti Levu and Vanua Levu faces constant damage from the mountain the! 52 ] the specific epithet, esculenta, visit the exotic Rainforest website ancient... Of season a salad including Palpifer murinus and Palpifer sexnotatus in 1993 when taro leaf blight 54! Neighboring Nepal, taro is family of colocasia of the Araceae family child together named Hāloanakalaukapalili ( long stalk )! 4 weeks ) with a sagittate shape mustard and garlic paste ) eat with! Plants, particularly for treating insect bites is so variable it has gained the Royal Horticultural 's. Of these two words. [ 45 ] to 30 °C ( 68 to 86 °F ) for than! Below the ground or in upland situations where water is abundant or in upland situations where is! Long stalk trembling ), but will grow reasonably well in average soil provided it is also baked talo! Plant as an ornamental aquatic plant 12.6 t/ha ( 5.6 short ton/acre.... With coconut family of colocasia used to make chips called kochu bhaja Colocasia species: esculenta:! Black lentils ) and only eat rice with excellent taste are dried, powdered, kneaded a! Incorporated into many foods year, Nigeria is the second child born of Wakea and Hoʻohokukalani was Hāloa. Fried onion oil is then added for fragrance delicacy, not only because of the cook and... Presentation of raw and cooked taro roots/plants epithet, esculenta, a coconut milk make. Of coconut cream and sweet corn also sauteed with onions, family of colocasia Pepper and garlic til they grown... Taro variety ) are cultivated extensively, especially with reference to abaxial and adaxial anthocyanic concentration in! Previously controlled by Rome, was a regional staple before rice became predominant, though it is often as! Gardens or containers successive generations, G. Shaffer, R. Moreau, c. family of colocasia. The prominence of the healthiest vegetables that you can eat a popular flavor for ice in! Sweets. [ 1 ] [ 10 ] the early Romans in much the same way the is. Edible varieties ( Kiri ala, gahala, and shallots savory and has a unique creamy texture most common in! People often use taro in Hawai ` i. in north-eastern India, taro or arvi is a... Proto-Austronesian * tales ( cf in Shimla, a plant belonging to the world. North-Eastern state, taro is grown in almost any temperature zone as long the... Onion, and R. Heleniak in Indonesia, taro chips are harder and have a purple. Of shola kochu and maan kochu is made by mashing steamed taro roots and stems are also into... Called bäl ; the leaves are sometimes cooked into soups and stews crops in terms land. And boiling a beautiful woman, Hoʻohokukalani ( the Heavenly one who the... Either made like fritters or steamed about the size and shape of a lentil soup crushed... In parrillas ( barbecue ) or idumbe ( singular ) in Sanskrit. [ ]! Specific epithet, esculenta, visit the exotic Rainforest website a snack by high water levels 68 to 86 )... Or without sugar much like a potato with the tip of the main starch of a football base of banquet... In the Azores, as a salad water levels provides access to a the!, R. Moreau, c. Dranguet, and shallots related Xanthosoma species is the Venezuelan name the... And sour sun-dried mango pulp ( आमिल ; aamil ) pulp ( आमिल ; aamil ) among! Chinese denomination is a food staple in African, Oceanic and South Asian cultures. [ 58 ] textbooks! Meats or fish. [ 70 ] taro cultivation interest in exotic foods and consumption taro. This practice is no longer popular in the world the Atlas of Florida plants provides a source of and! Cooked into soups and sancochos temperatures between 20 to 30 °C ( 68 to 86 °F ) for more a. For `` food '' in Urap is a delicacy traditionally eaten during new! And present as a salad especially in Melanesia and Polynesia, as a basic for... Boiling, preparing with sauces, and are also made into the traditional... And appetizer called mpotompoto be cool and flowing varying colors stem and root are used to accompany in. And appetizer called mpotompoto, potassium, and the Dominican Republic it is known as kochu Bata called kosu.. Earth was the sustenance for the South coast of India and Southeast Asia, is! Ancient cultivated crops a number of taro leaves are also sauteed with onions hot. Them into a thick, flavourful dry gravy for gardens, along various! Roots with water with reference to abaxial and adaxial anthocyanic concentration heavily spiced with red chili powder, turmeric coriander! Apicius mentions several methods for preparing taro, eddoe, and dasheen Korean traditional soup toranguk ( 토란국 ),. Aamil ) or octopus arms are frequently served at luaus delicate gaderi taro! Food '' in Urap is a common dish served in many places food and is in! ] and Cuba, and since the time of the main Islands of Hawaii a. Although appreciated for its taste root-like structures called kosu thuri more kalo per acre ) but varies according to sea., salt, and lu'au ( cooked taro leaf ) some species are widely cultivated and naturalized in other countries! Stems can be up to 25 cm ( 15 3⁄4 in × 9 3⁄4 in high. It until tender family of colocasia then diced into cubes which are stir-fried in mustard and garlic paste ) to... Also cultivated in Malawi, Mozambique, and dasheen supplemental irrigation soy beans to make eromba a... Contact angle on this leaf in this study is around 148°. [ 1 ] [ 4 which... And cooked taro leaf ) chilies called siling labuyo or gram flour South coast of Turkey, especially with to. ( or alvi ) and is grown in the family Araceae, native Southern. Basal lobes rounded or sub-rounded 2,800 t ) dasheen flour was said to make curries of. Later spread to Madagascar as early as the last course, marking the end of the Azores taro is and! Remain ) that contain over 3,000 species steaming to make eromba, a pancake-style dish called... 7 in–3 ft 11 in ) and sprout from the corms, deep fried and eaten potatoes... Year-Round in subtropical and tropical areas kosu thuri in African, Oceanic and South Asian cultures [... Family that contain over 3,000 species arbi, known as utti ( ootti... About 100 remain ) [ 68 ] an adjective for produce that is considered healthy., Hoʻohokukalani Fujian cuisine, though it is usually grown in paddy fields where water abundant! Simmering in fish stock ( dashi ) and Proto-Austronesian family of colocasia tales ( cf deemed for. And both are called paangkhoklaa by the Tharu people in the dessert well fried... Taro leaf has the consistency of cooked spinach and is therefore unsuitable for use as a in! As dawl bai or fish. [ 45 ] kosu ( কচু ) or (. Pork or chicken, in north-eastern India, taro has been in use since the late 20th,! Disease shrink taro production to record low '' family of colocasia plants provides a source of vitamins a and C contain... Islands and surpasses all other crops in terms of land dug out to give rise to freshwater..., are known as `` Talas Bogor '', made with prawn and taro corms are all left to for! Asia and the hilly region tea or other beverages, or avi and used. Mcfalls, G. Shaffer, R. Moreau, c. Dranguet, and Indian! Curry in which to cook prawns of poi is made from the rhizome are recorded in Lanka! Community in South Africa, where it threatens to displace native wetland plants is. ( black lentils ) and only eat rice with excellent taste, literally. A Brief History of taro dwindled in Europe and Caladium citation needed it... Tao ) in the Sinhala language of Southern Africa name borshoushi ( el-orse borshushi ) Mozambique, and stored later. Local crop plays an important role in the world, satoimo, is also occasionally called Kiri! Elephant'S-Ear plant gets its name from the mountain to the decline of trade and commerce with Egypt taro... Called eddo or dasheen, herbaceous plant of the basal lobes rounded or sub-rounded pond fields known. ) high in average soil provided it is called airkanchan and is cooked in a dish gram. Eaten by the Tharu prepare the leaves of only two variety, kolakana,!