Tannia: Taro’s Tasty, Hardy Cousin

I’ve been casually experimenting recently with an intriguing new tropical staple crop called “Tannia” (it also has other names around the world, botanical genus Xanthosoma–the species of my variety is unknown, a gift from a friend). It’s a relative in the same family as the common taro (genus Colocasia), but first domesticated in the Americas rather than South and Southeast Asia, as was the case with Colocasia.

It looks a bit different–and is usually cultivated differently–from taro, because, while the main corms can grow quite large, these aren’t commonly eaten, since they aren’t very palatable (although they can be used as locally-grown animal fodder). Instead, one eats the little “cormels” or budding corms (kind of like tubers), about the size and shape of potatoes, that grow off of the mother corm. One practical method of culture observed on some Pacific islands is to plant whole mother corms, mounding soil up around them (rather like potato plants), then uproot the entire corm after a few months (once a number of tubers have formed). One then breaks off all the cormels, and replants the whole mother plant, re-fertilizes, waters it in, etc., and allows it to grow more cormels. Supposedly this can be repeated with the same mother corm for at least several years.

It is supposed to have a higher yield potential than taro, which does not surprise me based on what I’ve seen so far. Other advantages include better drought and shade tolerance than the Colocasia species, and a resistance to Taro Leaf Blight. It also does better in sandy soils than taro–although it seems to like our heavy clay just fine too. It’s general hardiness and un-fussy requirements, combined with high yields, make it ideal for fitting into small backyard-type food plots.

The flavor and texture is different than common taro, but very pleasant. It has larger starch grains than Colocasia, giving it a mouth feel similar to a russet potato, with a flavor hovering between taro and potatoes. It’s quite soft when cooked. It mashes beautifully with some butter, milk, salt, and minced garlic chives, making an ideal locally-grown substitute for mashed potatoes. Cooking time seems to be longer than Chinese Taro (Bun Long), but significantly shorter than typical Polynesian taros (of course, the smaller you chop it, the faster it cooks up, and vice versa).

In short, Tannia seems to me a very useful and promising crop, both for food resilience, and for sustainable animal fodder. Visit this comprehensive website for further information: http://agroforestry.net/scps/Tannia_specialty_crop.pdf.

Some newly planted young Tannia plants, inter-cropped with young Papayas and sweetpotato vines, and mulched with duck pen litter