Taro flour

Taro croms Colocasia esculenta

Description

A white, edible powder made from the crushed root of the Colocasia esculenta plant that is native to Asia and the Pacific Islands. Taro flour is used to make a starchy paste called poi. The starchy mixture has also been used as an Adhesive.

Taro Colocasia esculenta

Synonyms and Related Terms

Colocasia esculenta; harina de taro (Esp.); cocoyam; dasheen; eddo; juau; poi

Risks

Raw taro roots and leaves are poisonous; they must be cooked prior to eating.

Resources and Citations

• G.S.Brady, Materials Handbook, McGraw-Hill Book Co., New York, 1971 Comment: p. 633

• Random House, Webster's Encyclopedic Unabridged Dictionary of the English Language, Grammercy Book, New York, 1997

• The American Heritage Dictionary or Encarta, via Microsoft Bookshelf 98, Microsoft Corp., 1998

• Encyclopedia Britannica, http://www.britannica.com Comment: "taro" E [Accessed 28 Sept. 2005].

• Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taro (Accessed Sept. 28, 2005)