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. 
Recipes 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. 
1 V. S. Dept. Agr., Bur. Plant Indus. Bui. 1G4 (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. 
