Welcome to the summary page for FabulousFusionFood's Cook's Guide entry for Taro along with all the Taro containing recipes presented on this site, with 46 recipes in total.

This is a continuation of an entire series of pages that will, I hope, allow my visitors to better navigate this site. As well as displaying recipes by name, country and region of origin I am now planning a whole series of pages where recipes can be located by meal type and main ingredient. This page gives a listing of all the Taro recipes added to this site.

These recipes, all contain Taro as a major wild food ingredient.

Taro is the common name for the edible corms and tubers of several plants in the Aracea family. Of these, the two commonest are the true taro, also known as dasheen, callaloo and cocoyam (Colocasia esculenta, var esculenta), which is the most widely cultivated and has the larger tubers and eddoe which has smaller corms, is classed as the variety antiquorum, was probably developed as a crop in Japan and China and is believed to be the best eating (in West Africa at least).

As well as being grown for their corms and tubers, the leaves and stems of taro plants are also eaten. Though native to southeast Asia, it was brought to India and thence to Africa in antiquity. The Ancient Romans knew it as colocasia and they imported it from Egypt. They ate the tubers in much the same way as we would eat potatoes today. They also prepared the beans of taro as we would prepare broad (fava) beans. The Roman cookbook of Apicius has several recipes for taro, including In Colocasio (Boiled Taro in Sauce). The Romans introduced taro to Cyprus (where it is known as kolokass or kolokasi [κολοκάσι]) and it is still eaten on the island today in recipes such as Colocassi Tsakristo (Taro and Pork Stew).

Taro is a perennial tropical plant that is primarily grown as both a root vegetable and a leafy green. It is a food staple in African, Oceanic and Asian cultures and is believed to have been one of the earliest cultivated plants. Colocasia is thought to have originated in the Indo-Malayan region, perhaps in eastern India and Bangladesh, and spread eastward into Southeast Asia, eastern Asia, and the Pacific islands; westward to Egypt and the eastern Mediterranean; and then southward and westward from there into East Africa and West Africa, whence it spread to the Caribbean and Americas. It is known by many local names and often referred to as 'elephant ears' when grown as an ornamental plant.

Taro is also one of the few plants that can be grown in semi-flooded conditions, as such it can be grown as a companion plant to rice. It should be noted that though taro contains high-quality starches, it should be considered inedible when raw as it contains calcium oxalate crystals (which can lead to the development of kidney stones), typically as raphides. This toxic compound is minimized by cooking (particularly if a pinch of baking soda is added to the boiling water) or by steeping taro roots in plenty of water over night. As a result, some recommend that milk or other calcium-rich foods are consumed together with taro.

Taro is a staple crop in the West African nations of Ghana, Nigeria and Cameroon. It is typically called cocoyam in Anglophone nations and macabo in Francophone nations. It is often boiled and fried or roasted and can be made into a paste by boiling and pounding in a mortar. In Benin, where taro is used to make fufu as well, the dish and the tubers are called igname. In Nigeria taro is often boiled to a kind of porridge known as cocoyam pottage. At 4.4 million tons per annum, Nigeria is by far the worlds largest producer of taro.



Cocoyam leaves are often used in West African cookery in place of the more common sweet potato or cassava greens in making sauces like palaver sauce. The classic Cameroonian cocoyam leaf stew is Ekoki.

In the English-speaking countries of the West Indes, taro is called 'dasheen' (and sometimes 'callaloo'), in contrast to the smaller variety of corms called 'eddo', or tanya, and is cultivated and consumed as a staple crop in the region. There are differences amongst the roots mentioned above: taro or dasheen is mostly blue when cooked, tanya is white and very dry, and eddoes are small and very slimy.

In the Spanish speaking countries of the Spanish West Indies taro is called ñame, the Portuguese variant of which (inhame) is used in former Portuguese colonies where taro is still cultivated, including the Azores and Brazil.

Taro in Cookery

The corms, which have a light purple colour due to phenolic pigments, are roasted, baked or boiled, and the natural sugars give a sweet nutty flavour. The starch is easily digestible, and since the grains are fine and small it is often used for baby food. The leaves are a good source of vitamins A and C and contain more protein than the corms.

Callaloo (sometimes calaloo or kallaloo) is a popular Caribbean dish originated from West Africa served in different variants across the Caribbean. The main ingredient is a leaf vegetable, traditionally either amaranth (known by many local names, including callaloo or bhaaji), taro or Xanthosoma. Both are known by many names, including callaloo, coco, tannia, bhaaji, or dasheen bush. Because the leaf vegetable used in some regions may be locally called 'callaloo' or 'callaloo bush', some confusion can arise among the different vegetables and with the dish itself. Callaloo is the one of National Dishes of Trinidad and Tobago. Taro corms are also an ingredient in the hearty Trinidadian stew, Sancoche. In Jamaica, taro greens are often part of the dish known as Ackee and Callaloo Bake

Interestingly, a similar stew of taro greens in made in Benin, West Africa, where it is called Calalu. In Côte d'Ivoire (Ivory Coast) there is a seafood stew, Taro aux Fruits de Mer (Taro with Seafood) that uses both taro corms and taro leaves.

Taro is a common staple in India, where it is cooked in many ways. In Kerala it is boiled and served as a staple, but in northern India it is more often served as an ingredient in curries, as in: Taro Roots and Lamb in a Tangy Sauce. The leaves are also cooked in dishes such as parthade

In Indo-China, taro stems are often used for cookery as they contain plenty of the enzyme, papain and are useful in tenderizing meats. Such dishes are Thai Thai Green Curry of Prawn and Fish and Vietnamese Canh Chua Gà (Chicken Sour Soup). The corms are also used in Vietnam in dishes like Cari Gà (Chicken Curry).

Taro is often used to stuff meats in the Philippines, as in the dish: Lechon (Roasted Pig).

An interesting recipe from Cambodia uses taro in making the dessert: Taro Root Pudding.

In China, taro is used both as a staple (boiled and mashed) and as an ingredient in cakes an sweet dishes, particularly ice creams.