The Complete Handbook of Taro Root
The Professional's Field Guide to Selection, Storage, Preparation, and Commercial Use
by Alumigogo Books
non-fiction
The practical reference for evaluating, processing, and purchasing taro root—essential for chefs, grocers, distributors, and serious cooks.
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About this book
Whether you are a produce buyer sourcing for a three-state region, a chef building a dish around a specific varietal's texture, or a home cook who has chosen to understand the ingredients you use, this handbook delivers the detail you need. It opens with the botanical and structural reality of the taro corm—why it irritates, how it stores, what its starch does—so you can make decisions based on chemistry and physics, not tradition. From there, it moves directly into a systematic breakdown of the most common varieties, their commercial grades, and the inspection techniques that matter when evaluating a shipment.
The book covers the full practical lifecycle of the product: selection and purchasing strategy, step-by-step preparation and cooking methods, and a troubleshooting section for the most common failures—like corms that won't soften, or that get slimy during storage. Beyond the kitchen or the warehouse, it examines the broader market landscape: what to look for in a reliable supplier, which purchasing channels fit different business models, and where the industry is heading in terms of cultivars and processed forms. It closes with a glossary of trade terms and a compiled list of frequently asked questions.
This is not a recipe collection or an inspirational food blog. It is a dense, vocational reference, written for a reader who wants to know precisely what they are buying, how to handle it, and what options they have when a shipment arrives bruised, moldy, or full of fiber.
Reader Reviews
Donna Thompson
★★★★★I bought this hoping for more of a grower's manual, but it's really written for commercial buyers and chefs. The sections on grading and inspection are solid, and the storage chapter saved me from a habit I'd picked up that was making corms rot early. It's a solid reference, just not quite what I needed as a small farmer. Wish it had more on soil conditions.
David Campbell
★★★★★A dense little handbook with actual substance. The chapter on choosing varieties by starch content is worth the price alone. I'm a purchasing manager for a restaurant group and the troubleshooting chapter about slimy corms and how to identify a bad shipment has already saved me a problem. It's not a light read, it's a reference, which is exactly what the title says.
Brenda Martinez
★★★★★I'm a serious home cook and I found this really useful. The chemistry section goes a bit deep for me, but it explains why taro chips get that addictive crunch and why my hands itch even when I wear gloves. The glossary in the back helped me decode a supplier's product list I've been ignoring. Four stars because I wish there were more practical recipes using the different types.
Jessica Carter
★★★★★A good resource but the tone is a bit dry and academic for what I expected. It covers all the basics for a buyer, but I found the business opportunities chapter a bit vague. It tells you that you can be a supplier or process taro, but not a lot of detail on how to actually find those first customers. That chapter felt like it was written for someone with more industry connections than the book provides.
Gary Campbell
★★★★★Finally, an unsentimental reference on an over-hyped ingredient. The breakdown of corm structure and why it irritates is clearly written. As a distributor, I'm using the inspection checklist to standardize how my team looks at incoming loads. The chapter on future trends and disease-resistant cultivars confirmed a couple of things I was hearing in Asia. This is a field manual, not a decorative cookbook.