Taro's less-loved corm may be the better ingredient
Brandão NA, Tagliapietra BL, Salvador-Reyes R, do Nascimento GC, Pallone JAL
Food Forest
If you grow taro or cook with it, the big central corm you might toss aside actually holds more fiber and calcium than the little cormels everyone prizes, and it thickens sauces more predictably too.
Taro is a starchy root vegetable, and most people cook with the small offshoot pieces called cormels while ignoring the larger central corm. Scientists tested both and discovered the corm actually has more fiber and calcium and behaves more predictably when heated in water, while the cormels bring more protein and potassium. So instead of one being the 'good' part and the other a byproduct, they're better used together depending on what you're cooking.
Key Findings
Corms had higher total dietary fiber and calcium; cormels had higher protein, available carbohydrate, and potassium
Both corm and cormel starches gelatinized around 80°C, but corm starch granules were larger in diameter, perimeter, and area than cormel starch granules
Cormels produced thicker, firmer gels with higher peak and setback viscosity, while corms showed greater thermal stability and lower tendency to re-thicken (retrogradation) after cooling
chevron_right Technical Summary
Researchers compared taro's two edible parts, the central corm and the smaller offshoot cormels, and found they offer different nutritional and cooking strengths, meaning both are worth using rather than favoring cormels alone as is common practice.
Abstract Preview
Original paper
Taro (Colocasia esculenta (L.) Schott) Corms and Cormels Cultivated in Brazil as Plant-Based Food Ingredients: Nutritional, Microstructural, and Pasting Properties.
Taro (Colocasia esculenta (L.) Schott) is a carbohydrate-rich tuber crop cultivated in Brazil, with potential for the development of plant-based food ingredients. However, taro corms are less comme...
open_in_new Read full abstractAbstract copyright held by the original publisher.
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Taro is a root vegetable. It is the most widely cultivated species of several plants in the family Araceae that are used as vegetables for their corms, leaves, stems and petioles. Taro corms are a food staple in African, Caribbean, Oceanian, East Asian, Southeast Asian and South Asian cultures.