Vegetable
Colocasia esculenta
S tier
Colocasia esculenta is taro—a tropical aroid storing starch in corms and sometimes eaten as leaves (callaloo-type uses with care). Raw corms irritate due to oxalate crystals; thorough cooking makes flesh nutty, sticky-starchy, and mild. Central to Pacific, Caribbean, West African, and Asian cuisines. Boil, pound to poi, fry, or stew. Species covers dasheen, eddoe, and related culinary taros. Never eat raw corm or improperly prepared leaves.
Track this ingredient
Characteristics
Preparations
Traits
History
Taro was domesticated in New Guinea/SE Asia region and spread with Austronesian voyages.
Polynesian settlers carried taro across the Pacific including Hawaii.
African and Caribbean cuisines adopted Colocasia corms widely.
Global tropical groceries stocked taro for diaspora cooking.