UTILISATION
- Corms, or “tubers”, are not only rich in Vitamins B and C but are also easily
digested and are therefore suitable for feeding to infants, old people and those with
gastric disorders. Raw corms contain about 25% starch and up to 13 mg/100 g
Vitamin C. They can be a good substitute for Irish potatoes, sliced and fried into
chips. The corms can be roasted, boiled or baked, or made into meal or flour. In
Polynesia the famous Poi dish is made from crushed, fermented taro. - Young leaves are often eaten as a vegetable, a bit like spinach, though many
varieties have a very bitter taste. An excellent source of Vitamin C (52 mg/100 g
in raw leaves), the young leaves also provide protein, calcium, phosphorus, iron,
potassium and vitamins A and B. - Young shoots are sometimes blanched in steam and eaten like asparagus.
LIMITATIONS
- C
they last up to six months. Eddoes can be stored for several months, but only if - • • • • •
science has played virtually no part in the development of this potentially very
Yam
Dioscorea spp.
D. alata Greater Yam, D. bulbifera Air Potato, D. cayenensis Yellow GuineaYam,
D. dumetorum African Bitter Yam, D. elephantipes Elephant’s Foot or Hottentot
Bread, D. esculenta Lesser Yam, D. hispida Asiatic Bitter Yam, D. nummularia &
pentaphylla Yam, D. opposita (or D.batatas) Chinese Yam (or Cinnamon Vine), D.
persimalis Bush Yam, D. rotundata White Guinea Yam, D. sansibarensis Wild
Yam, D. trifida Cush-cush Yam; Igname (French); Yamswurzel (German); Name,
Yame (Spanish);
Aja, Yampi, Mapuey, Inhame (Portuguese); Khamba Alu (Hindi)
The Sweet Potato (Ipomoea batatas) is sometimes known as “yam” (from the
African nyami), especially in Americanised English and when they have orange
flesh. To add to the confusion the edible tubers of some other species are also
sometimes known as yams. The description below refers to plants of the genus
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Dasheen corms can normally only be stored for a few weeks—at about 10
dried and well stored.
Leaf blight and virus diseases can be very damaging.
Taro plants need high rainfall and heavy, fertile soil unless heavy fertiliser
applications and/or irrigation are used.
The plants take a long time to produce a crop, especially dasheens.
The corms and leaves of some varieties have bad tasting calcium oxalate crystals
which must be removed during cooking, and make them inedible when raw.
varieties.
Low protein content.
productive food crop. The reason may perhaps be partly due to the confusion
over the naming and description of the different species, sub-species and
Very little scientific or agronomic effort has been given to Taro, and modern