Taioba
Yesterday I decided to set you guys a little test on the Eat Rio Facebook page. I wanted to know if anyone was familiar with these rather attractive leaves.
OK, sorry if I sound like a weirdo food nerd here, but they’re rather nice looking leaves aren’t they?
I’m not going to try and make out I’m some expert here. The fact is that I only discovered these leaves a few weeks ago and was wondering if everyone else knew about them but had been keeping quiet!
I was browsing Glória street market when I noticed this rather attractive bunch of leaves and asked the guy what they were called. He said something that sounded to me like ‘Tai-OPP-ah’. “Hmmm, interesting…” I thought. “I will remember to look this up when I get home”. In fact I forgot the name almost immediately and had to return about 3 times to the (thankfully) patient stall holder. When I got home and Googled it, I found that the proper name is Taioba.
The common name in English for these big leaves is the rather exciting Arrowleaf Elephant Ear (Xanthosoma sagittifolium) but I think we should stick with the Brazilian name seeing as they are native to South America.
The leaves are actually rather versatile. The guy selling them at the market suggested cooking them like spinach or couve – chop the leaves and then plunge them briefly into salted boiling water; drain and then fry them quickly with plenty of garlic, butter, salt and pepper. You can also eat the stalks which should be peeled and then cooked as above, leaving them in the water for a little longer to soften them up (a couple of minutes should do it).
Hmmm, adding bacon makes most things better…
What doesn’t seem to be so well known is that these plants also have an edible root which looks very similar to our old friend inhame (taro – Colocasia esculenta).
If I didn’t know better I would say this was inhame, but it is actually the root of taioba! Although one is from South America and the other from Asia, they look almost identical!
The leaves look quite similar too.
That is inhame on the left, taioba on the right.
The leaves can grow very large indeed (hence the ‘Elephant Ear’ nickname), making them excellent for recipes that use leaves as wrappers to make parcels.
Taioba leaves stuffed with spiced rice served with bechamel sauce. Maybe you could even use these instead of vine leaves to make dolmades?
When I saw the common name of Elephant Ear, a bell rang in my memory. Where had I heard that name before? Turns out it was earlier this year in April when I was walking down the street in Glória and saw a spectacular leaf growing in someone’s garden. I took a photo and then a reader (thanks Susan Loveland!) identified it for me – a ‘Caldium’, AKA Elephant Ear!
Don’t go eating these ones! Any Elephant Ears with colour in their veins or on the stalks are likely to be quite poisonous!
So, pick some up (the edible versions!) at a market near you this weekend and let me know how things go!
We also have those kind of plants and I knew them by the name “Oreja de elefante” too (which is spanish for elephant ear), although I can’t remember seeing them coming in colours, and I didn’t know they were edible either.. I thought they were just ornamental.
Hey Nicolás – it’s a good name isn’t it? :D It seems like if you’re ever lost in the forests of South America (you never know! ;) ), these things (the leaves and the roots) could save your life! Just don’t eat the ornamental ones! Ha ha!
Hi Nicolas,
Please, please, please be careful. Taioba is not to be confused with the leaves of the inhame or other ornamental elephant ears as these are very poisonous. I know the difference as I eat taioba since I can remember growing up and we had it in abundance in our mini farm as well as the inhame and my mum always picked to avoid any mistake. It’s the most delicious green leaf I have ever eaten. It’s soft like butter when cooked properly and you remove all of the stokes before preparing unlike with the English spinach that you cook everything.
That picture of the leaves filled with rice is magazine quality. Bread has always been one of my terrible weaknesses. Even as a kid, to my father’s great annoyance, I would regularly slam down half a loaf or more of just plain bread, piece by piece. And it doesn’t help that an endless variety of different types of sandwiches can be made with 2 slices of bread. Anyway, the large variety of edible leaves here in Brazil has helped me get my bread obsession into remission. Just this morning for breakfast I had some spicy sliced up boiled egg rolled up in some kind of green leaf I bought at a street feira. My improvisation on an egg roll you might say. And my increasingly old body appreciates the fewer calories and carbs and various other things that come in industrially produced foods like bread. Here’s a tip for anyone who wants to easily (although not quickly) and healthily lose weight: Replace half or more of the processed food you currently consume with a simple food. Eat apple sauce, replace it with the real apple. Eat a lot of bread, replace it with leaves. You get the drift……
Hey Carlos – yeah, that’s a nice photo isn’t it (sadly not mine). And I like your tips – something I could definitely keep in mind! ;)
I grew up eating leaves like taioba, couve, ora pro nobis (delicious!), serralha, etc. i cook them the same way i cook couve, with garlic, onions, cebolinha e salsinha (dont know what they`re called in english – can you teach me?). No bacon here, because i`m a vegetarian.
Hi Marina! We call Cebolinha “chives” and Salsinha is “parsley” – a great combination, especially with lots of garlic! :)
I had never heard of Ora Pro Nobis – is this specific to Minas?
I ordered ora pro nobis from Amazon. I’m in FL. Apparently, ora pro nobis is an amazing vegetable. Good for so many ailments.
Cebolinha e chives
Salsinha e parsley
Coentro e cilantro
Coentro is Coriander in Australian English
Hi Ana! We say coriander in the UK too. I remember once a Canadian client absolutely would not believe me when I told her that both the coriander seeds and what she called ‘cilantro’ were from the same plant. For her, coriander referred only to the seeds and she hadn’t realised they had any relation to each other! ;)
Hi Marina, same here. All of these delicious marvellous simple food. By the way, cebolinha can be Chives or spring onion leaves and salsinha is parsley.
Cheers
Taioba tea: hot water and some pieces of taioba. Wait 4 – 5 minutes. Drink it and feel happy again. A classic recipe for those suffering from the liver.
Brilliant Ana! Thanks for that – I hadn’t heard of that usage. And my liver does ask me to be nice to it once in a while! ;)
Don’t forget what happened last time EatRio kept readers waiting so long for the next post.
Ha ha! It’s been a tough week… :-/ But there is a post almost done!
Taioba Colorida e Venenosa Cuidado
Taioba Color and Poison Care
Do not eat any other leaves, such as elephant’s ears, the plant gives a white flower like a bell.
Hi I grew up eating taioba, it used to be very common back then. But please be careful. You have to cook very well. Put some garlic and the volume gets down put some water, cover and cook in low heat for a least 20 minutes. Its de most delicious green I ever had and would love to find where to buy, but you have to know how to prepare it. Is not like spinach or couve, colar green.