Taro

Colocasia esculenta

root

A tuber with brown skin and white or purplish flesh, with very fine starch, from a plant with big elephant-ear leaves, native to India and Southeast Asia; always well cooked, it makes Hawaiian poi.

Origin

Southeast Asia and Pacific

Season (United States)

all year round · grows in your region

Preparation

Never raw: its calcium oxalate crystals sting the mouth and throat. Full cooking destroys them, and gloves while peeling save your hands from itching. Its oxalates leach into water: boiling it and throwing the water out takes a good share with it.

Molecules

What slows things down Oxalates

Did you know?

Polynesians brought it to Hawaii around the year 900 to 1000; it is called taro in Tahiti, talo in Samoa and Tonga, kalo in Hawaii.