Taro ?

I was reading in one of my parents gardening books and it said elephant ears and taro are the same thing Colocasia spp. http://www.ces.ncsu.edu/depts/hort/consumer/poison/Colocsp.htmOn the internet it says they are Poisonous! maybe one of our Hawaiian constituents how to prepare taro.

Whut up Talkie?

Taro, dasheen, or cocoyam (Colocasia esculenta var. antiquorum)
Taro corms are roasted, boiled, or baked, and may be made into cakes. Heating is necessary to remove an acrid, irritating property of the raw corm. Traditionally, the substance blamed for this irritation has been the needle-like crystals of calcium oxalate, which occur throughout the plant and become lodged in the mucous membranes of the mouth and throat. Dumbcane (Dieffenbachia), a household plant, is considered a dangerous poison for the same reason. Now other researchers suspect that one or more additional chemicals may be responsible for the acridity and intense itching and burning of raw taro, which would be injected into mucous membranes by the sharp-tipped calcium oxalate crystals. In the Hawaiian Islands, taro plant is eaten after thoroughly boiled to destroy the toxins; the leaf (luau, also the name of the feast using taro leaves) must be boiled at least 45 minutes over low heat, whereas corms are boiled in a deep pot with salted water for at least an hour or until soft.
This is a neat plant to grow around a pond or a bog area, They grow in about 6" of water covering the top of the soil. There is a varity tht has black leaves.

Taro is beautiful, I just planted a large chartreuse variety called "Elephant Ears".
I used to have a very dark purple one growing in a pot in my pond. Unfortunately, my dog decided to eat the tuber this spring. I wonder if it irritated her enough to leave it be next time? Ya, right

-Tikiwahine & Poi-Dog Gypsy

[ Edited by: MTKahuna on 2005-04-21 17:51 ]

I grew up eating taro (baked, boiled or fried).
It's great wit half and half and onions. A very popular polynesian dish...

becareful... it can also be used as itching powder.

MTK

On 2005-04-17 23:44, Tikiwahine wrote:
Taro is beautiful, I just planted a large chartreuse variety called "Elephant Ears".

It's my general understanding that while Elephant Ears are a non-edible plant from the same species of plants which are Taro, the two are, in fact, different.

Gardenweb.com may provide a definitive answer.

You silly people...Elephant Ears are a delicacy native to the islands of Carnivale and the State Fair regions...best eaten hot with a lovely sugar-cinamon coating. They are usually found growing in kiosks between the tents of "Juwanga-The Gorilla Girl" (alive, alive, ALIVE)...and "Morphina-The Snake Girl" (The daughter of a missionary woman bitten while pregnant...) They are somewhat related to another exotic treat..The Funnel Cake......which may have given birth by accident to the corn dog...?

Important things in life:

1. God
2. Funnel cakes
3. Tiki