Re: Edible Taro

From: "J D Prince" Nestlebrae.Exotics at xtra.co.nz> on 1999.10.05 at 22:22:02(3694) Edible taro is Colocasia esculenta and its subspecies which have an enormous variety of names depending on where you are in the world. According to "Queer gear: how to buy and cook exotic fruit and vegetables" by Carolyn Heal and Michael Allsop, who are writing about things likely to be found in the U.K., Colocasia esculenta var. antiquorum is called eddoe, C.e. var. sculenta is dasheen, but both are also called taro. In the Pacific Islands there are probably hundreds of different "varieties". Fijians alone recognise more than 80 different sorts, so what you saw is probably one of them. If you kept it warm and moist it would probably sprout and grow. You can eat the leaves of them as well as the tubers, though both are somewhat of an acquired taste: the tubers are much drier than potatoes. John Prince & Rosemary Steele, Nestlebrae Exotics, 219 South Head Road, Parkhurst, R.D.1 Helensville, New Zealand 1250. email +More phone (64) (09) 420 7312 website: http://www.helensville.co.nz/nestlebrae.htm

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