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Vegetables

Taro

Colocasia esculenta, ColocasiaAlso called colocasia

Taro is a root vegetable with a starchy corm. Cooks boil, steam, roast, or deep-fry it, use it to thicken dishes, and pair it with ingredients such as coconut milk, pork, and shrimp.

  • Plant-based
  • Gluten-free
  • No listed allergens

About the plain ingredient, not packaged products; general information, not medical advice. Details

Category
Vegetables
Part used
Corm
Family
Araceae
Texture
Starchy
Cooked most in
Africa, Asia, Oceania
Top country
Indonesia
Taro, market

Photo: Susan Slater · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons

In the kitchen

How to use taro

Typical ways to cook or use it

  • Bake
  • Boil simmer
  • Braise
  • Deep fry
  • Roast
  • Saute
  • Steam
  • Stew
  • Stir fry
  • Thicken

Preparing it

For some preparations, peel the corms before boiling them. Alternatively, boil or steam taro before peeling it. Slice the corms thinly for chips.

Cooking with it

Cooking reduces the toxin in taro and makes it palatable.

Goes well with

If you don’t have taro

  • radish · Works in a pinch, for cooked

    Used in sinigang when taro is unavailable.

Flavour

Taste and texture

Texture

  • Starchy

Shopping

Choosing and storing taro

Choosing a good one

Choose firm corms without decay, excess soil, bruises or deep cuts. Look for round corms without major deformities.

Keeping it

  • Fridge · whole
Sold as
Canned, Fresh, Frozen
Availability
Specialty stores (01M6Z353CQ7FW3NKYJBJ50WRHK); Specialty stores (01M6Z352THTQS2JKSGGCM8MVNT)

Nutrition

What 100 g of taro holds

Per 100 g, raw. Averages from USDA; real values vary by variety, season and growing conditions.

Protein 5%Fat 1%Carbohydrate 94%of the macronutrients by weight

Nutrition per 100 g of taro, raw
Energy112 kcal · 469 kJ
Protein1.5 g
Fat0.2 g
of which saturated0.04 g
Carbohydrate26 g
of which sugars0.4 g
Fibre4.1 g
Sodium11 mg
Cholesterol0 mg
Nutrition per 100 g of taro, raw: minerals and vitamins
Potassium591 mg
Calcium43 mg
Iron0.55 mg
Magnesium33 mg
Zinc0.23 mg
Vitamin C4.5 mg
Vitamin A (RAE)4 µg
Folate22 µg

Source: USDA FoodData Central (food 169308), public domain. Minerals and vitamins are listed only where USDA measured a non-zero amount.

Around the world

Where taro is cooked

6 dishes in the catalogue use taro. Here is where they come from.

Dishes by continent

Countries whose dishes use it most

Counts are catalogued dishes from each country that list taro among their ingredients.

Origins

  1. About 1,300 BCE · Oceania

    Austronesian peoples carried taro into the Pacific, where it became a Polynesian staple.

  2. About 1,300 BCE · Polynesia

    Austronesian peoples brought taro to the Pacific around 1300 BC; it became a Polynesian staple.

  3. The 000s · Madagascar

    Taro reached Madagascar as early as the first century AD.

On the table

Dishes made with taro

5 of the 6 catalogued dishes that use it, spread across the countries they come from.

  • Lapis talas Bogor

    Indonesia

  • Sahoaba

    Madagascar

  • Taro with yellow sauce

    Cameroon

  • Buntil

    Indonesia

  • Anishi

Dish lists come from Wikidata; a dish counts when its recorded ingredients include taro.

Good to know

Diet and allergens: taro in detail

These notes describe the plain ingredient. Packaged and prepared products vary, so read the label; for allergies and medical diets ask a doctor or dietitian.
Allergens
None of the 15 listed allergens foundChecked and not found: soy, eggs, fish, milk, lupin, wheat, celery, sesame, mustard, peanuts, molluscs, sulphites, tree nuts, crustaceans, gluten cereals.
Animal origin
No animal ingredients foundChecked and not found: egg, fish, meat, dairy, honey, insect, gelatin, poultry, bone char, shellfish, other animal, animal fining, animal rennet.
Gluten
None
Alcohol
None
Caffeine
None
Pork
None

Family

Related forms

A kind of
root vegetable

Cooked together

Ingredients that go into the same catalogued dishes.
Photo credits for this page (2)

Around the world

What taro is called

Names in 17 languages, from Wikidata.

  • Spanish

    taro

  • French

    taro · racine madère

  • Italian

    taro

  • German

    Taro

  • Russian

    таро · Colocasia esculenta · Мадейра · корень Мадейры

  • Arabic

    قلقاس · القلقاس

  • Chinese

    芋头 · 芋頭 · 香芋

  • Japanese

    タロイモ · タロ芋 · タロいも

  • Thai

    เผือก

  • Filipino

    Gabing-uwak

  • Samoan

    Talo

  • Afrikaans

    Taro

Show all 17 languages

  • Gujarati

    અળવી

  • Kazakh

    Таро

  • Nepali

    पिंडालु

  • Odia

    ସାରୁ · ସାଋ

  • Simplified Chinese

    荔浦芋头

  • Slovenian

    taro

Photos

More photos of taro

  • Taro, plant

    Photo: Kahuroa · Public domain · Wikimedia Commons

Sources and credits

Data

Wikidata item: Q1771944

Photos

Photo: Susan Slater · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons

Photo: Kahuroa · Public domain · Wikimedia Commons