POTATOES AND OTHER STARCHY ROOTS AS FOOD. 25 



station there that agriculturists in this country became interested 

 in them. They grow well in wet lands and make a profitable root 

 crop in soils too moist for potatoes or sweet potatoes, while the 

 dasheen also has proved itself well adapted for other soil conditions. 

 For this reason the Department of Agriculture and some of the 

 experiment stations of the South Atlantic and Gulf States have 

 been experimenting with them recently in the hope of developing 

 a profitable crop for the moist, rich soils of those coast-plain areas. 

 Particularly good results have been obtained with the dasheen. 1 

 The Department of Agriculture has done much to make it known 

 in the United States, and it is quite generally liked by those who 

 have tried it. Though particularly useful in warm localities, where 

 white potatoes do not grow well, it can also be marketed elsewhere, 

 for it has good shipping and keeping qualities, and while it is not 

 expected to replace the potato crop it may well supplement it to 

 add variety to the list of starchy vegetables. 



The dasheen root consists of a large stocky central rootstock or 

 corm, from which cormels or tubers branch out on all sides. The cen- 

 tral corm is nearly spherical, but slightly pointed toward the top, 

 and sometimes weighs as much as 6 pounds. It is firmer in texture 

 than the tubers which branch off from it. 



Both corms and tubers are edible, though in some varieties the 

 tubers have a finer, more succulent flesh and a milder flavor. In gen- 

 eral their texture may be said to resemble that of white potatoes. 

 The flavor of dasheen is very much like that of the potato, being 

 starchy and mild, and has little if any of the characteristic acrid 

 taste which is common to nearly all the uncooked roots of this family 

 of plants but which is removed by cooking. The color of the roots 

 varies according to the variety, some being white or cream color, while 

 others run into orange, brown, or lavender, or even show a marbled 

 effect. The starch grains are very much smaller than those of 

 potatoes and most other common starchy food materials. The roots 

 also contain a gummy substance which sometimes interferes with 

 extracting the pure starch if ordinary methods are used. These 

 points, however, are more important in connection with starch manu- 

 facture than with the value of these roots as human food. 



Eecipes for cooking dasheen have appeared in earlier publications 

 of this department, 2 Their composition, as given in the table on page 

 27, shows that, like the other starchy roots described in this bulletin, 

 their nutritive value depends on carbohydrates and mineral matter 

 rather than on protein and fat. 



X U. S. Dept. Agr., Bur. Plant Indus. Bui. 164 (1910) ; U. S. Dept. Agr., Bur. Plant 

 Indus. Doc. 1110 (1914), pp. 11. 



a U. S. Dept. Agr., Bur. Plant Indus. 1110 (1914), p. 11. 



