Taro

Taro

What it is

The drainage ditches cut for taro at Kuk Swamp in Papua New Guinea are among the oldest traces of farming anywhere, roughly seven thousand years old. The itch it gives raw is mechanical: needle-shaped crystals of calcium oxalate, which heat destroys.

In the kitchen

Peel it under running water in gloves, or oil your hands first; if it stings, rub the skin with vinegar or lemon. Never taste it raw, and expect it to thicken whatever it cooks in - it turns a thin stew into a sauce.

Goes with

Coconut milk Pork Ginger Palm sugar Spring onion Chili pepper Duck Sesame

Same species

Taro stem

Also used with

Perilla seed powder Red fermented bean curd (nanru)

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