Xanthosoma

Xanthosoma is a genus of about 50 species of tropical and sub-tropical arums in the flowering plant family, Araceae, all native to tropical America. Several species are grown for their starchy corms, an important food staple of tropical regions, known variously as malanga, new cocoyam, tannia, tannier, yautía, macabo, taioba , dasheen and ‘ape. Many other species (including especially Xanthosoma roseum) are utilized as ornamental plants.

Domestication of Xanthosoma species is thought to have originated in northern lowland South America then spread to the Antilles and Mesoamerica. Today Xanthosoma is still grown in all those regions but is especially popular in Cuba and Puerto Rico, where it is used in Alcapurrias. It is grown in Trinidad and Tobago, Guyana and Jamaica to make the popular callaloo dish.It is also grown in West Africa, now a major producer, where it can be used as a replacement for yams in a popular regional dish called fufu. Xanthosoma is also grown as a crop in the Philippines.

Traditionally Xanthosoma has been a subsistence crop with excess sold at local markets, but in the United States, large numbers of Latin American immigrants have created a market for commercial production. In general, production has yet to meet demand in some areas. In Polynesia, Xanthosoma  was considered a famine food, utilized only in the event of failure of the much preferred taro (kalo) crop.

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