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Edible Varieties:




Many aroids are eaten in one way or another although they are mainly used as a carbohydrate or starch food. These days with more people traveling to far off, exotic locations, more records of aroids being used as food are coming to light. Aroids can be fried as ‘chips,’ cooked and added to ice cream, curries, stews or soups as a potato substitute or flavoring and the leaves can be used as a spinach or wrap. Here are a few varieties that are commonly used as well as the locations that they are used.




Colcasia esculenta is a common aroid that is used as a food product all over the tropical world. Locations include India, Asia, Africa, the pacific region, the West Indies, Florida and even the Carolinas. The use of Xanthosoma has also spread to these areas, although possibly to a lesser extent.




Amorphophallus species are widely used as food in Japan, China, and the Far East as well as in South India. These plants are extensively grown in these regions. The tubers as well as the leaves and seeds of this genus are used.




The inflorescence of Spathiphyllum species are also considered a food product for the people of Central America and the Guyanas as are the young leaves and flowers of Caladium bicolor.




Typhonium species are often prepared and eaten by the Australian Aborigines. The rhizomes of this genus were specially prepared and used as food by the Native Americans in addition to Symplocarpus foetidus, which was often used to make peppery bread.




Other edible aroid tubers that are often prepared because of their starchy properties include species of Arum and Arisaema. Calla palustris is sometimes used by the Lapps in Finland to make flour for bread. Montrichardia seeds can be roasted and are eaten by South American Indian tribes.




Cyrtosperma merkusii is a big part of some of the isolated Western Pacific Island cultures and is an integral part of their wealth as well as their culture. On some of these islands where taro cannot be cultivated, large pits are dug in the coral substrate, and then the pits fill with brackish water that filters in. Big baskets are woven from coconut leaves; a plant of Cyrtosperma is then put in this basket together with leaf mulch, coconut husks, pig manure and other similar material. This basket is then lowered into the pit. The natives must then wait three to six years before harvesting this crop. Some of the tubers can weigh up to 120 pounds! The tubers are then used for a status symbol as a gift to rival clans for feasts.




Finally, the fruit of several aroids can be eaten including the fruit obtained from Monstera deliciosa, several Philodendron species as well as Montrichardia species.


Be sure to stop in next week for aroid recipes.