How to cook taro
Taro is a great food when prepared well, but take care - it is a strong plant in the garden, and can scratch or bite in the kitchen! For detailed or special recipes, see menu at left. Some basic precautions are suggested below and in the column at right.
The author of this website disclaims any responsibility for cooking accidents.
Fresh taro is best. Grow your own, if possible. Brush or wash to remove all dirt from the corms and side-corms. For most kinds of cooking, peeling is necessary. Corms are often cut into bite-sized pieces, or pieces thin enough to cook quickly and evenly. Long, slow cooking is good for large pieces or entire corms.
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Side-corms with slit skins, after roasting in tinfoil (Cyprus 1996) |
Dry cooking: Wrap each piece in a leaf or tin foil and place in or over the coals of slow burning fire. Leave until soft, remove coverings, remove skin by hand or with a knife, and eat with salt and lemon juice.
Collecting recipes Please tell us about any cooking books with taro recipes, in any language, in any country. Use our message board (menu at left), or send a note to the contact address in footnote below (PJM 4.2.05).
BASIC PRECAUTIONS
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Alocasia macrorrhizos ('elephant ear') growing wild in Coromandel. Do not try eating this! The leaves are shiny and point upwards, and the stem joins at the edge of the blade, not at the centre as with taro. There may also be fruiting heads with green or red berries (unripe or ripe). Photo courtesy of Peter Sander, Papa Aroha Holiday Park, Coromandel (2005). See more on Alocasia here |
DO NOT try eating plants that just look similar to taro
These could be even-more poisonous relatives in the same plant family. Be sure that you are using taro.
DO NOT eat ornamental, weedy, or wild taros
If they are not familiar to you as eating material, such plants can be very poisonous. If someone says you can eat such plants, make sure that the person has first-hand experience and can be trusted.
DO NOT let small children try cooking and eating taro
Children who are learning to cook should be always supervised by an experienced adult - especially when taro is involved.