TARO “Colocasia esculenta”: It’s Utilization in Food Products in Ghana

Abstract

Background: The study developed Taro "Colocasia esculenta" products and sensorily assessed acceptability and promotion in the diets of Ghanaians to help address the increasing persistent malnutrition among Ghanaians and provide employment through agro-processing. Materials and methods:Composite flours were produced from taro, soybeans, rice and maize and analyzed proximately. Ten panelists, 5 males and 5 females were purposively sampled from the VOTEC Department of University of Cape Coast and interviewed. A self developed questionnaire was administered to panelists to evaluate the sensory properties of baby food and pastries prepared from the composite flours. Panelists' scores were subjected to ANOVA and Duncan's multiple test at α ≤ 0.05. Babies of the 5 females were fed samples of the baby food and observations made in relation to how well they ate the food were compared to the scores provided by the panelists. Results:Results showed taro flour ash content of 4.01%, protein 3.43%, carbohydrates 0.74%, dry matter 85.32%, and fat 0.18%. Sensory analyzed samples had high mean scores for characteristics considered. Appearance and color of baby food (S 1 -S 4 ) were not significantly different at α ≤ 0.05 whilst taste, flavor and overall acceptability differed. The taste of S 1 and S 3 were not significantly different but were significantly different for S 2 and S 4 . The texture of S 1 and S 3 were not significantly different but S 4 was different. All samples of baby food were not significantly different for overall acceptability. For the taro cake (T 1 -T 3 ) most of the sensory characteristics were not significantly different. T 2 was evaluated as the best product followed by T 3 , T 1 whilst T 6 came out as the best product followed by T 5 and T 4 respectively. Conclusions:Panelists acknowledged acceptability of taro products recommending its promotion in the diets of Ghanaians and the possibility to process taro at the rural level to provide jobs for the rural poor.

Morphological, anatomical and isozyme variability among taro (Colocasia esculenta) accessions from southeastern part of Central Java, Indonesia

“…The edible part of taro such as corms, leaves, and petioles provide a good source of carbohydrate, protein, dietary fibre, minerals (calcium, phosphor, magnesium and iron) and vitamins (thiamin, riboflavin, niacin, ascorbic acid) (Wilson and Siemonsma 1996;Safo Kantaka 2004;Huang et al 2007;Rao et al 2010;Amagloh and Nyarko, 2012;Darkwa and Darkwa, 2013). The corm is usually sliced and fried into taro chips and is used in the preparation of soups, beverages, and puddings.…”

Constraints to production and preferred traits for taro (Colocasia esculenta) and new cocoyam (Xanthosoma mafaffa) in Togo, West Africa.

“…Roots (corms) are consumed boiled, roasted or fried and are an important source of carbohydrates while the corn flour has been reported to have 70-80 % starch content with small granules, which results in high digestibility [10,11]. In Africa, Darkwa and Darkwa [12] reported that cake and chips prepared from a combination of taro flour and cereals such as maize/corn, rice and wheat are well accepted by Ghanaian people. Bamidele et al [13] showed that co processing of cassava and taro improved the nutritional quality of gari, a traditional cassava food product that is often eaten in West Africa.…”

“…It is mostly grown in areas with high rainfall and mainly in intercropping system. These two crops contribute to food security in the lives of many and have rich economic and socio-cultural connotations in Africa [12,20,21]. However, according to FAOSTAT [22] and DSID [23], taro and tannia produce the lowest average yields (5.4 tonnes/ha for the world and 1.2 tonnes/ha for Togo, respectively) of all reported root crops.…”

Agro morphological characterization of taro (Colocasia esculenta) and yautia (Xanthosoma mafaffa) in Togo, West Africa

“…Taro is an ancient crop of uncertain geographical and genetic origins in Southeast Asia (Matthews, 2014) and may have reached sub-Saharan Africa via the Nile or Madagascar (Quero-Garcia et al, 2010;Grimaldi 2016). Taro corms are an excellent source of carbohydrates (Rao et al, 2010;Darkwa and Darkwa, 2013). Young leaves are important source of protein, vitamins and minerals (Amagloh and Nyarko, 2012).…”