A variety of taro that is grown in the southern states. It is a high-starch tuber. Although acrid in the raw state, it has a nut-like flavor when cooked. Taro can be boiled, fried, baked, and used in soup.

Taro (/ˈtɑroʊ/) is a common name for the corms and tubers of several plants in the family Araceae (see Taro (disambiguation)). Of these, Colocasia esculenta is the most widely cultivated, and is the subject of this article. More specifically, this article describes the ‘dasheen’ form of taro; another variety is called eddoe.



Taro is called “dasheen”, in contrast to the smaller corms called “eddo” in the English speaking countries of the West Indies, and is cultivated and consumed as a staple crop in the region. In the Spanish speaking countries of the Spanish West Indies it is called ‘ñame;except in Puerto Rico, where it is called “malanga”, the Portuguese variant of which (inhame) is used in former Portuguese colonies where taro is still cultivated, including the Azores and Brazil.


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