Let's plant taro in the backyard garden or in a container garden.

Taro is native in Tahiti, Hawaii, and tropical countries especially
in Southeast Asia. Taro is well known with big leaves that resemble
an elephant's ear.

You can plant it in your room with a container garden, too. It is
delicious and more nutritious compare to other hard-to-plant
vegetables. It is edible from leaves up to its corm.

Some people and narrow-minded professors say that taro is poisonous
because of its acrid compounds (an irritating property of the raw
corm). It is a substance irritating the tongue with needlelike
crystals of calcium oxalate, which occur in the mucous membranes of
the mouth and throat. However, today, there are a lot of taro
seedlings cultivated with a new plant technology that has eradicated
such irritating substances.

Other researchers believe that other chemicals are maybe involved 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.

Taro plants are rich in vitamins and minerals. 100 grams of taro
contains almost 0% of fat and cholesterol and about 112 calories, 11
mg of sodium, 2 g of protein, contains Vitamin A, C, E, K, iron,
calcium, and many others.

More than 100 million people around the world are eating taro
nowadays. It grows in wet soils in the humid tropics of many
countries. In Japan, Korea, and China, we plant and consume taro
practically in our daily diet with variety of cooking from cakes to
main food. Taro crops can help world hunger, if we all join together.

Let us start planting it in the backyard garden, even in a small
container garden. You have nothing to worry about during any season
excepting winter. It can decorate your garden and room, too.

In fact, I have planted taro since childhood, inherited the habit of
planting it by my uncle. Most of the time, our snack is boiled taro
or made it into cakes.

Grind taro, and mash with sugar or put other ingredients that fits
your taste. You can bake, you can toast, or you can fry as you like.
It is good for all of us.

Here are some recipes:

1. Fried Taro
2. Cream finish with chicken
3. Caramel finish
4. Beef and vegetable finish
5. Cooked with tomato
6. Shrimp with vegetable finish
7. Soy with spices
8. Steam with vegetables
9. Taro barbecue style

In Europe, Taro is roasted, boiled, or baked and made into cakes.
Heating is one way to remove the acrid irritating substance of the
taro.

Taro has a higher proportion of protein, calcium, and phosphorus than
potato. Taro is rich in vitamins A and C. Taro is digestible at
higher rate and rich in amylase, which breaks down to sugar with
saliva. Taro is excellent for people with digestive problems, and
therefore, taro flour is used in infant foods especially for those
who have allergies, such as lactose intolerance.

Taro is also known as good food for preventing tooth decay.

What more do you ask about Taro?


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About the Author:
Junji Takano is a Japanese health researcher and has been studying
the causes of viruses since 1960. In 1968, he invented the Pyro-
Energen, the first electrotherapy device that eradicates viral
diseases effectively and without any side effects.
Free newsletter: http://www.pyroenergen.com/newsletter.htm
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