Colocasia esculenta -- Kalo, or Taro



Kalo apuwai was especially valued. Rain water caught in its
leaves never taouched the ground and was used in blessings.		 Colocasia esculenta -- kalo, or Taro
Kalo (called taro in rest of Polynesia) was the primary food source for Hawaiians. Hawaiians grew it in dryland cultivation with leaf mulch or wetland cultivation in lo'i . Lo'i are shallow ponds irrigated by diversions of stream water moving through them at a slow rate.

One early report indicates that there may have been as many as 300 different varieties of kalo. Hawaiian names for kalo reflect different colors and physical characteristics of stem, root and leaf. Certain kalo were paired with fish to which they had some similarity, and when those fish were lacking, the kalo could be substituted for the fish in ceremonial offerings.
Kalo has crystals of calcium oxalate in the underground stem and leaf which are dangerous to eat until the heat of cooking destroys them. Poi is made from cooked tuber which is pounded with an addition of water. It makes a thick paste. Leaves, called lu'au, are boiled and used like spinach.



Varieties of kalo differ in color and size.

Some kalo had few crystals
and were used raw as medicine.


Kalo has a mythical relation as "brother/sister" to human race, begotten before humans from two gods: earth god, Papa, and sky god, Wakea.
Photos by Priscilla Millen.
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