Growing Dasheen

Dasheen is sometimes called eddo, taro, or malanga. Dasheen, a large-growing plant, is related to the ordinary elephant's-ear and looks like it. It is a long-season crop, adapted for culture only in southern North America, where there is normally a very warm frostless season of at least 7 months.

Dasheen is grown for its edible underground parts , which consist of one or more large central corms (called a "mammy") and a cluster of swollen lateral tubers. The central corm may be as large as 8 pounds, but is usually 1-2 pounds. The smaller tubers are usually 2-4 ounces in size. Both corms and tubers have a scattered covering of a cloth-like husk that can be peeled away to improve the appearance.

The broad, round-to-heart- shaped velvety green leaves are borne 3-7 feet (1 to 2 m) high. The leafstalk attaches near the center of the leaf and does not touch the "notch," a characteristic referred to as "peltate." These leaves are acrid and unpleasant tasting and should not be eaten until specially cooked and drained to remove the oxalic acid.

It needs a rich loamy soil, an abundance of moisture with good drainage, and a fairly moist atmosphere. Small tubers - from 2 to 5 ounces (56 to 140 gr) in weight - are used for planting in much the same way as potatoes. Planting may be done 2 or 3 weeks before frosts are over, and the season may be lengthened by starting the plants indoors and setting them out after frost is past.

Dasheen tubers are planted whole. Set the plants in 3 1/2- to 4-foot (1.1 to 1.2 m) rows, about 2 feet (60 cm) apart in the rows. Fertilize with garden fertilizer or use liberal amounts of compost worked well into the soil. Dasheen tubers may be dug and dried on the ground in much the same way as sweetpotatoes, and stored at 50F (10C) with ventilation.

The dasheen has three main uses: (1) corms and tubers used as a potato; (2) leaves as greens, once they have been boiled 15 minutes in water with a pinch of baking soda, drained, and then rinsed with boiling water; and (3) the blanched young shoots, obtained by forcing corms in the dark, furnish a tender vegetable having a flavor somewhat like that of mushrooms. A stew dish called calalou is prepared from dasheen leaves. Poi is made from fermented taro starch.