This popular tuber in Vietnam has 1.5 times more nutrition than potatoes.
Many people like to eat taro because it is not only delicious but also has health benefits such as nutrition, constipation prevention, and lowering blood pressure.
Specialist Doctor II Huynh Tan Vu, lecturer of Traditional Medicine Department, University of Medicine and Pharmacy Hospital, Ho Chi Minh City, said that potatoes are usually planted in November-December and harvested in July in the northern regions. This plant can be grown in many types of soil.
Health benefits of taro
According to Dr. Vu, taro contains a large amount of potassium, which helps control blood pressure levels and reduces the risk of high blood pressure. The abundant fiber in taro helps with bowel movements and quickly eliminates waste from the body.
In 100g of taro, there are 1.5g of fiber, meeting 27% of the fiber the body needs each day. This fiber helps reduce the risk of colon cancer, colon, detoxify and bad cholesterol in the body. The abundant vitamin C and B6 content in taro also helps the body increase resistance and anti-aging.
Taro contains more than 17 types of amino acids that are essential for the body. Taro also contains omega-3 and 6 which are very good for the heart, helping to prevent cancer as well as prevent diseases in general.
According to Oriental medicine, wild taro tubers are often purple, eat to break gas, not nutritious. Cultivated taro tubers have a sticky white powder, sweet and slightly spicy taste, smooth, neutral, regulate internal organs, reduce gas, replenish damage. Taro leaves and leaf sheaths have a spicy taste, neutral, have the effect of eliminating stagnation. Taro flowers have a spicy taste, neutral, have the effect of relieving pain and stopping bleeding.
"All parts of the taro plant are edible. Taro tubers have 1.5 times more nutritional value than potatoes. Cooked tubers are an energy-rich food. Taro starch grains are the smallest compared to grains of other food plants, so they are easy to digest," said Dr. Huynh Tan Vu.
The tubers are often boiled to eat to stave off hunger, cooked with snakehead fish or crucian carp to regulate internal organs, reduce gas, and nourish damage to treat tuberculosis and weakness. Taro soup with water spinach and field crab helps to sleep easily and reduce fatigue. Taro tubers are chopped, boiled, and used for bathing to treat rashes and itching.
Children with impetigo and pus discharge, using crushed taro root as a poultice is very effective. 20-30g of taro leaves can be boiled and drunk or combined with other ingredients to treat anxiety in pregnant women and restless fetuses. Leaf sheaths can be used to cook vinegar with fish, snails, meat or used to pickle vegetables. Fresh taro leaves can be crushed and applied to treat snake bites, bee stings or boils.
Nutritious dishes from taro
Cure weakness, fatigue, loss of appetite, thirst: 200g taro, 50g yam, 50g rice, cook porridge to eat during the day. Regularly eating this porridge has the effect of increasing physical strength and strengthening the spleen and stomach (enhancing digestive function).
Cure body weakness and thirst after illness:Cook 100g taro and 50g lean pork into soup and eat with meals. It has the effect of nourishing yin, preventing thirst, benefiting qi, nourishing the stomach, and preventing fatigue. You can use it to nourish cases of body weakness and thirst after illness.
Taro and jujube dessert: 250g taro (peeled and cut into small pieces), 50g jujube, 50g brown sugar, simmer to make a sweet soup, divide into 3-4 meals a day. This sweet soup is used to nourish people with weak bodies.
Taro is nutritious, low in calories, easy to eat, and can be processed into many delicious dishes. Photo: Huajianggu
Cure restlessness, poor appetite, poor sleep:200g field crab, 60g taro, 1 bunch of water spinach. Wash the field crab, remove the apron and shell, keep the crab fat, crush, filter the water, add fish sauce and salt to taste. Peel the taro, wash and cut into bite-sized pieces. Pick the leaves and young stems of the water spinach, remove the roots and wicks, wash. Put the taro in the crab water, cook until soft, add the water spinach, cook until done.
Treats physical weakness, nervous breakdown, and people recovering from illness:300g taro, 100g mung beans, cooking oil, spices to taste. Peel taro, wash, soak in salt water to remove slime. Wash mung beans, soak in water until soft, then boil.
Heat the oil in a pan, stir-fry the taro, then add water and cook for about 10 minutes. Add the beans and stew. When the beans and taro are soft, add seasoning and serve hot. Eating this dish regularly is very good for the brain and improves memory, body and nerve weakness.
Treatment of allergic rash, pain in limbs:60g taro, 100g pig shank or spine. Peel and wash taro, cut pork bones into short pieces, add salt, water, and spices. Simmer for 2 hours, eat twice a day, has the effect of expelling wind and dampness.
Cure pimples, boils:Boil taro and vinegar in equal amounts, take out, crush and apply locally.
