Taro (Colocasia esculenta)
Colocasia esculenta is a traditional, inter-developed, and a tuberous crop harvested across the globe in tropical and subtropical areas. It correlates to the “Arecaceae” own family and is also called the “taro,” the name was given to this family’s tubers
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Seema Sharma, Romee Jan, Ramandeep Kaur, and Charanjit S. Riar
Abstract
Colocasia esculenta is a traditional, inter-developed, and a tuberous crop harvested across the globe in tropical and subtropical areas. It correlates to the “Arecaceae” own family and is also called the “taro,” the name was given to this family’s tubers and roots. It is grown mainly as an affluent source of starch for the use of its palatable corms and leaves as an edible vegetable. Historically, taro was used owing to its antitumor, antimicrobial (antibacterial and antifungal), antidiabetic, antihepatotoxic, and antimelanogenic characteristics. Recent studies have documented the presence in the taro of bioactive compounds such as flavonoids, steroids, β-sitosterol, etc., which are confirmed for their health benefits. In the twenty-first century, where the consumer demands natural ingredients integrating food products, taro has various potential for use in the food industry, but after investigating its medicinal and pharmaceutical properties. This analysis will shed light on taro’s bioactive and nutraceutical compounds and the possible health-promoting implications thereof. Keywords
Colocasia esculenta · Antioxidants · Antimicrobial · Flavoniods · Health benefits
S. Sharma (*) Department of Food Technology, Jaipur National University, Jaipur, Rajasthan, India R. Jan Department of Food Science & Technology, University of Kashmir, Srinagar, Jammu and Kashmir, India R. Kaur Department of Food Technology, Eternal University, Sirmour, Himachal Pradesh, India C. S. Riar Department of Food Engineering & Technology, SLIET, Sangrur, Punjab, India # Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2020 G. A. Nayik, A. Gull (eds.), Antioxidants in Vegetables and Nuts - Properties and Health Benefits, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-7470-2_18
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S. Sharma et al.
Botanical and Common Names
Taro belongs to the Colocasia group which has monocotyledonous Colocasieae subfamily. Given the ample availability of vegetative propagation, the categorization of the Colocasia variety with a wide family is considerably mixed. The mainly domesticated taro is sorted as Colocasia esculenta, while the sort is also considered multiform. The taro has botanical varieties named twice: Colocasia esculenta (L.) Schott var. Schott var: Esculenta and Colocasia esculenta (L.) Schott Antiquorum (Purseglove 1972). In several areas, taro is known by several names, such as edode or malanga. Taro plant is known as “dmmbhe” in the Republic of South Africa, “cocoyam” in Ghana, “ndalo” in Fiji, “taro” in Tahiti, “talo” in Samoa, “gabi” in Philippines; “amateke” in Rwanda; “colcas” in Arabia; “kalo” in Hawaii, and “arbi” in India. Cultivated as a decorative herb, taro is also known as “elephant ears” (Dastidar 2009). The generic name of taro is derived from the Greek word kolokasion, meaning that both Colocasia esculenta and Nelumbo nucifera have an edible root component (Shekade et al. 2018).
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Introduction
Taro is an erect tuberous perennial plant, primarily grown across trop
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