When it comes to ingredients that can be used as both staple food and vegetables, the first thing that comes to mind is sweet potatoes, potatoes, yams, in fact, there is another food that is completely underestimated by everyone, that is, taro.
Taro is not good-looking, but it is not inferior to other root vegetables in terms of taste and nutrition, and it can even be called "longevity food" - in Hezhou City, Guangxi Province, the "hometown of longevity", many centenarians here love to eat taro, often using it as a staple food or with meat.
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A delicious and nutritious "underground treasure": taro
Traditional Chinese medicine believes that taro tastes sweet and spicy, sex is flat, "Food Materia Medica" records that it can "cure irritability, quench thirst, make people fat, appetizing, and close the intestines", it can be seen that eating taro often helps to open the stomach, eliminate irritability and quench thirst, strengthen the spleen and replenish deficiency, moisturize the intestines and laxatives, etc.
From the perspective of modern nutrition, eating taro regularly can reap the following benefits:
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Dietary fiber + potassium ions: help prevent three highs
The content of dietary fiber in taro is relatively rich, especially soluble dietary fiber, which is 4 times that of refined rice and white noodles. Compared with insoluble dietary fiber, soluble dietary fiber has less burden on the stomach, helps delay the rise of blood sugar after meals, and reduces the body's absorption of cholesterol.
Moreover, taro also contains more potassium ions, the content is as high as 378mg/100g, often eat for regulating blood pressure, reducing the risk of stroke, reducing heart disease and so on also has certain benefits.
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Soluble dietary fiber: regulates the spleen and stomach
Taro is a very good spleen and stomach ingredient, compared with the sweet potatoes and potatoes that everyone often eats, it has unique advantages. Taro enters the spleen and stomach meridian, and Chinese medicine believes that taro has the effect of "leaking" while "replenishing". "Supplement" can increase appetite, nourish stomach and qi; "Leakage" can dissolve phlegm, nourish the lungs, disperse qi, and moisturize the intestines and laxatives.
In Meng Shu's "Food Materia Medica" of the Tang Dynasty, it was mentioned that taro can "cure heat, quench thirst, make people fat, appetizing, and close the intestines". It can be seen that eating more taro can increase appetite, promote digestion, moisturize the lungs and quench thirst, and eliminate irritability and dryness.
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Fluoride: protects teeth
It is particularly worth mentioning that taro has a high fluoride content, which can play a certain protective role in teeth; At the same time, it is also rich in protein, calcium, magnesium and other nutrients, and eating it often also helps to strengthen bones.
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Mucus protein: enhances physique
Taro contains a mucus protein that enters the body to produce immunoglobulins, which can help boost the body's immunity. Moreover, taro is also rich in vitamin A, B vitamins and other nutrients, which are helpful for regulating human immune function. For middle-aged and elderly people, taro is a healthy ingredient.
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Master 3 techniques, pick one taro and one accurately
If you can pick up powdery and sticky taro when you buy it, the deliciousness value of the dish can be much higher. So, how can you buy a good taro?
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Look at the epidermis
When selecting taro, peel the fur of the skin to see if there is mold, rot, hardening, and shriveling in the taro.
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Look at freshness
Generally, fresh taro is relatively hard, if the taro is found to be soft, it means that this taro is very old, or it has been left for too long.
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Look at the root whiskers
The main thing is to cut the root and whisker area with a knife, some milky white sticky liquid will appear at the incision, and gently stick these sticky liquid with your hands. If the mucus is very thick and delicate white, and can quickly dry into a small white powder, the quality of such taro is very good.
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There is a trick to peeling taro
There is also a common problem when peeling taro: the hand tends to itch after contact with it. This is because the juice of raw taro contains a substance called taro saponin, which can cause itching in contact with human skin, which cannot be eliminated even if repeatedly scratched, and if eaten, the tongue may be numb and even poisoned.
Therefore, taro must not be eaten raw, and it is best to wear gloves during the peeling process. If you feel that it is inconvenient to operate with gloves, you can also try the following two tricks:
(1) Rub some salt or white vinegar on your hands before peeling;
(2) After washing the taro, first use a knife to make a circle on its skin, then put it in a container that can be heated by microwave, add a little water, cover with plastic wrap and microwave it, take it out and peel it along the knife edge on the skin.
Source: CCTV Home for Dinner