THE POTATO HAS A RIVAL AT LAST.

King Country Chronicle, Volume VIII, Issue 656, 1 April 1914, Page 7

THE POTATO HAS A RIVAL AT LAST.

At the recent annual banquet of the National Geographic Society., held in. Washington, the diners found a new variety of food., called dasheen, cn the mtnu. They sampled it and found it good, even more agreeable in flavour than the potato, which the dasheen, we are assured, threatens to supplant in popular favour. The dasheen is a tuber, a native o> the Far East. It is known as ths aroicL In the Hawaiian Islands dasheen is known as taro. from which is prepared a food known as poi. In Cub a the dasheen is dished up.under the food name of malanga. penmen ts are being made in several parts of th 3 United States \uith dasheen, or tarO', and it is lO'.iud very 'prolific and very easy to raise. It grows in low, marshy ground. The taro or dasheen root may be used either boiled or baked and may be dried and ground into flour. The composition of taro is probably the same as that of the familiar potato, and those who have eaten dasheen declare that they prefer it to the potato. It is also wovth noting that while the potato .is or should be white, the taro can be dished up in a g*eat variety of flavours and colours. Some are pink, others red. others bluish and some are yellow. Food experts are inclined to think that dashero ds destined to be a valuable addition to the bill of fare, even if it fails to take the. place of the potato altogether.