Colocasia esculenta (L.) Schott syn. Arum esculentum L., Arum colocasia L.; Caladium colocasia (L.) W. Wight; Caladium esculentum (L.) Ventenat - Araceae - taro, **Taro**, Wasserbrotwurzel

Perennial, tropical plant primarily grown as a root vegetable for its edible, starchy corms; leaves 2-3 or more, triangular-ovate, 25-80cm long, dark green above and light green beneath, petiole up to 1m high. \\
"The rhizomes, petioles, and inflorescences are used as a vegetable... Widely cultivated usually near farmhouses or in water fields; also naturalized or perhaps native in wet places in forests, valleys, swamps, wastelands, and at watersides." [[http://www.efloras.org/florataxon.aspx?flora_id=2&taxon_id=200027262|efloras.org]] 

"Taro is believed to be one of the earliest cultivated plants.. thought to be native to Southern India and Southeast Asia, but is widely naturalised." [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taro|Taro (wikipedia)]]

|{{:2acetyl1pyrroline.jpg|}} \\ 2-acetyl-1-pyrroline |{{:ee24decadienal.jpg|}} \\ (E,E)-2,4-decadienal |{{methional.jpg|methional}} \\ methional |

"Lipu taro is one of the most famous varieties of taro in China with strong aroma... vacuum simultaneous steam distillation and extraction and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry were applied to extract and analyze the volatile components, combined with gas chromatography-olfactometry, aroma extraction dilution analysis, odor activity value, aroma recombination and omission experiments to determine the key aroma-active compounds in cooked Lipu taro. Results revealed that 18 odorants, such as 2-acetyl-1-pyrroline (2-AP), (E,E)-2,4-decadienal, methional, nonanal, 1-octen-3-one, etc., were identified as the key aroma-active compounds, and they could recombine the taro aroma at detected concentration. Among these key odorants, 2-AP exhibited the most significant roles in cooked Lipu taro. 2-AP was confirmed to be originated from Maillard reaction, as the addition of Maillard reaction precursors (L-proline and D-glucose) could increase its content significantly." \\
[Zhou, Xiatao, et al. "2-Acetyl-1-pyrroline originated from Maillard reaction is the key odorant of cooked Lipu taro." International Journal of Gastronomy and Food Science (2024): 100968] 

{{taro_comp.jpg}} \\
[[https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:TaroAKL.jpg|Taro plant]] and [[https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Taro_corms_2.jpg|corms]] [[https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/|CC BY-SA 3.0]]