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susanlynne48

Edible Aroids!

susanlynne48
18 years ago

We've kinda sorta been discussing this on another thread, so thought I would start this one to see if you guys have other suggestions.

First listed is Nationality, then Common Name, then Scientific Name, which I'm sure you would have known anyway.

Barbados, West Indies

Slippery dips

Colocasia e. antiquorum

Brazil

Cara

Colocasia esculenta

Inhame

Colocasia esculenta

Inhame roxo

Xanthosoma violaceum

Mangarito

Xanthosoma maffaffa

Taioba

Xanthosoma sagittifolia leaves

Taioba roxo

Xanthosoma violaceum

Caribbean Islands (English Speaking)

Calaloo bush

Colocasia esculenta leaves

Dasheen

Colocasia esculenta

Eddoes

Colocasia e. antiquorum

Tanier

Xanthosoma sagittifolia

Tannia

Xanthosoma sagittifolia

Cuba

Malanga blanca

Xanthosoma sagittifolia

Malanga cabeza

Colocasia esculenta

Malanga islena

Colocasia esculenta

Malanga lila

Xanthosoma violaceum

Cuba and parts of Spanish Caribbean

Malanga amarilla

Xanthosoma atrovirens

Ecuador, Columbia

Camacho

Colocasia esculenta

Ecuador, possibly Columbia

Papa China

Colocasia e. antiquorum

Florida & some other states

Taro Root

Colocasia e. antiquorum

Hawaii

Taro

Colocasia esculenta

Hawaii (perhaps Tonga & Samoa)

Ape (Ah-pay)

Xanthosoma sagittifolia

India

Arvi

Colocasia esculenta

India (found canned in West Palm Beach Indian grocer)

Arvi

Colocasia e. antiquorum

Suran

Amorphophallus paeoniifolius

Jamaica

Red coco

Xanthosoma violaceum

Nigeria

Anyamanya cocoyam

Colocasia esculenta

Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic

Yautia amarilla

Xanthosoma atrovirens

Yautia blanca

Xanthosoma sagittifolia

Yautia lila

Xanthosoma violaceum

S.E. Asia

Keladi

Colocasia esculenta

Talas

Colocasia esculenta

West Africa

New cocoyams

Xanthosoma sagittifolia

Old Cocoyam

Colocasia e. antiquorum

Old Cocoyam

Colocasia esculenta

If you are shopping in ethnic markets in different locations, you might come across these common name variations. If you think of anything else please add to the list. Just an attempt to make wintertime a little more interesting - can you tell, I'm bored? I had this all nice, indented, and formatted nicely, but it's not coming out that way. I hope you can read it okay.

Susan

Comments (15)

  • jim_6b
    18 years ago

    I was reading an article on the internet about Chinese culture and different foods they eat. It had pictures of fields where amorphophallus were grown for food. I can't remember what kind they were growing, I think it may have been konjac. It's interesting, what some people grow for food others grow as a hobby and pay top dollar for.

  • susanlynne48
    Original Author
    18 years ago

    It is, isn't it? I went to my local Buy for Less, which is located in the Asian District of OKC, not too far from me (about 1 mile), and they have taro in and something called "noname". I am going to have to look that up. It is obviously a root of some sort, very large and round. Not an aroid, but I wonder if some of these things can be grown as ornamentals. After all, hybrid sweet potatoes are (Blackie, Marguerite, and others). I pulled my tuber (only could find one) of Marguerite to overwinter and plant next spring. Someone on another forum showed the blooms of Marguerite, and they are quite lovely, like morning glory (guess they would be since they are in the ipomea family). I am just fascinated by alternative ways to obtain some of the aroids that we pay EXHORBITANT prices for that can be obtained for much less in a grocery store. On another thread, Keiko mentioned Malanga, I believe it was, which is mentioned in the list I posted above. Two or three of them are actually Xanthosomas. So I need to really educate myself for my next foray to the Asian or other ethnic marketplace. There are several in this area, so I have a lot to choose from.

    Here is the other thread that addressed a lot of supermarket finds:

    http://forums2.gardenweb.com/forums/load/frugal/msg0617032914307.html

    Ah, well, I still don't know how to hyperlink....

    Susan

  • keiko2
    18 years ago

    A. konjac: konyaku in Japan, pretty sure they just call it yam in English in India.

    A. paeonifolius: Elephant yam in India.

    Konjac is an important field crop in Japan.

    I don't ever recall seing anyone in my family preparing konjac tubers for cooking, but in Japan they are processed into noodles and used in literally thousands of other prepared and packaged foods. They are considered to be very healthy and somewhat medicinal, kind of like chicken soup? in the States :) My grandmother in California used to make a kind of Japanese Jell-O from konjac powder.

    Keiko

  • susanlynne48
    Original Author
    18 years ago

    Thanks for the info, Keiko! I know that some of these products have to be treated in a certain way before they can be produced in an edible form, though, like boiling, etc., or they can be treacherous. Like lablab for instance.

    Susan

  • keiko2
    18 years ago

    Dolichos lablab really is a beautiful garden plant, but I don't think I will ever be tempted to eat it unless there is some sort of world-wide rice shortage :)

    Keiko

  • susanlynne48
    Original Author
    18 years ago

    Hee hee hee, Keiko! I would be tempted to try it just for the experience. But, that's me. Wonkie. I'll try anything once....if it's not to slimy, that is. I did have escargot, but it wasn't slimy at all. Slimy to me is oysters on the half shell....that would be a negative! I mean, people don't even taste them; just let them slide down their throat! What's the point! I have eaten oyster dressing (turkey) and it's pretty good, but I'm not big on the flavor. I tried some coconut milk in Jamaica, curried goat, and bread fruit, none of which was bad at all. We have a guy we met in Jamaica and the 2nd and 3rd trips there, he took us everywhere the natives went, shimmied up a coconut and brought it to us, broke it open and we drank the milk. We had so much fun there. Talk about tropics! We climbed the waterfalls, floated down the river - SPECTACULAR - on bamboo rafts, went skinny dipping on James Bond beach (and got kicked off), went to the nightclubs that the tourists do NOT go to. What a great time. I did find native begonias, but at the time, I wasn't into aroids. I'm sure there were some there.

    My boss is getting ready to go to Kauhi - what can I ask him for - any tubers you can think of that he can easily tuck in a suitcase?

    Susan

  • keiko2
    18 years ago

    Friends & relatives in Hawaii shop markets for good quality eddoe type Colocasias, but these are selected & grown for their ability to produce good quality food tubers in a specific location rather than ornamental value.

    If you aren't already getting it, you would probably be very interested in the J.L. Hudson seed catalog, a good read at any rate. Most of the Asian vegetables & edible plants don't do very well in our harsh climate, always too hot or too cold :), but the Mexican/Zapotec & South Americans do. Unfortunately restrictions on importing seeds to California have really cramped their style in the last few years.

    Keiko

  • susanlynne48
    Original Author
    18 years ago

    Indeed I have requested the J.L. Hudson catalog, along with a myriad of others. Actually, it was recommended by someone else that I should get it. I have been hovering around Central Florida Farms and A&B Tropicals, too. Some of these places are just too expensive for my pocketbook, though.

    I just get lucky sometimes by browsing around the local nurseries in OKC. Every now and then they come up with something unusual in the greenhouse that can be grown outside as well. I have some friends in the horticultural world who own commercially run nurseries that I check in and out with occasionally, too, and I can always got to the Botanical Gardens sale in April-May. Sometimes they have things that no one else has any idea what they are looking at. That doesn't mean they won't buy it just for the sake of buying it, though, so I still have to be willing to just kind of slide thru and in front of someone and say, "oh, just look at that......wouldn't you know I've been trying to find that for THE longest time!" (in my best throaty Valley Girl voice) and snatch it up quick! One look at the little old woman, and they back off.

    They have some of my old friend, Kathlyn Calvert's begonias growing there in the greenhouse. She grew such wonderful plants. I did a piece on her in The Begonian many years ago. Another friend, now deceased, did the photos. She took the Nationals in Dallas, the first year they were held outside of California ever in begonia history.

    Speaking of California restrictions, I really think they'd like to recede from the states altogether; quite a different breed there. Never been there; never WANT to go there. Have never wanted to go West. Always want to go East. Love Boston, the Northeast, the Eastern seaboard, and the gulf. Nothin' but young whippersnappers and upstarts West of here.

    I'd love to life on the gulf coast, but I would have to build underground, with enough room to move my plants indoors during a hurricane, and enough storage for food & water to last a substantial length of time during blackouts and water interruption.

    Susan

  • glenns61
    17 years ago

    i pulled up a 2 1/5 in by 6 in pink and white maguerite tuber today should have pics in a day or so marguerite potato vine.

  • taffyj
    17 years ago

    I saw some fancy, expensive diet pill commercial on tv last week. You know the ones where they tell you if you're over 30 and over stressed, you're overweight, and you've got belly fat? Well, under the name of the pill, Lepto-something, or Propo-something, they had in small print italics "amorphophallus konjac." For big money, probably more than a dollar for a tiny pill, they're selling this stuff that has no proven effect at all for weight loss. You'd have to eat nothing but those pills to loose weight from taking them. Hey, we can all go rip our plants up and loose weight for free! (Or keep being gardeners and keep the weight off the old fashioned way.)
    Don't you just love how the FDA has deregulated everything for us so greedy people can make a profit off the unwary even easier than ever before? Reading what Keiko wrote, if they eat A. konjac by the bowlful as noodles, those people should be so skinny they'd be dead. If A. konjac really works as a 'powerful weightloss formula' like the person on tv claims, that is.

    Sorry for the rant. I just hate scams.

  • greenelbows1
    17 years ago

    No need to apologize to me, anyway--I rant about things like that too. My son was telling me about a SciFi novel where everyone was raised to be perfectly honest in all things, including advertising. They had the Ford 'Adequate'. Trouble with honesty--you'd have to tell people the truth when they ask questions like 'does this make me look fat?' (like the commercial lol!) and people who come visit my garden when it's not at its best would have to say so--I guess!

  • geoforce
    17 years ago

    After reading this thread, I started rummaging around in the bins at the nearby farmers' market. Found a bin of Eddoes (Colocasia e. antiquorum by your list) at $1.49/pound. Tubers were about small pear size and shape and this would work out to about 40-50 cents apiece. I'll consider these as disposable accent plants next spring.

    George

  • dspitz2012
    10 years ago

    I had purchased this Colocasia Esculenta from a local nursery and it's starting to get large, I just wanted to get another opinion before we attempted to prepare it for eating.

    Thanks, I have a pic of the back of the leaf as well if it's needed for ID

  • miketropic
    10 years ago

    looks like the type known as "mammoth". IDK if you can eat them or not but I know its not one of the preffered types like bunlong or some of the others.

  • dspitz2012
    10 years ago

    ^Thanks for the extra input. Yeah i may end up sourcing the edible kind online to be safe ~~ :)

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