Martha Dahlen

Taro

Wu Tau

Appears in
A Cook’s Guide to Chinese Vegetables
A Cook’s Guide to Chinese Vegetables

By Martha Dahlen

Published 1992

  • About
Botanical Table

APPEARANCE: To distinguish this from other root vegetables, note that its brown, hairy skin has fine, dark rings that encircle it at regular intervals and thick roots that emerge at irregular intervals. When cut, the white flesh is flecked with purple.

All taros are heavy, dense objects of oval shape, but varying size. The two varieties commonly sold in Hong Kong — and representative of the two great divisions of taro varieties worldwide (see comments below) — are:

© 1992 Martha Dahlen. All rights reserved.