taro

Etymology

Borrowed from Maori taro. Doublet of kalo, from Hawaiian.

noun

1. Colocasia esculenta, raised as a food primarily for its corm, which distantly resembles potato.
   The Jiasian region is famous for taro ice cream. Even though taro is the key ingredient in the ice cream, people in this area bought taro from other regions. During the post-Typhoon Morakot reconstruction process, JCA and other local organisations encouraged large numbers of farmers in Jiasian to grow taro. The Agriculture Bureau then started investing in Jiasian taro farming. Local taro ice cream makers are now using local taro to support local agriculture. 2018, Lena Dominelli, editor, The Routledge Handbook of Green Social Work, Routledge, →OCLC, page 134
2. Any of several other species with similar corms and growth habit in Colocasia, Alocasia etc.
3. Food from a taro plant.