Taro: A superior food for nourishing the spleen and replenishing qi: Nutritional analysis and healthy recipes for taro.
72. Taro, an excellent food for replenishing qi and nourishing the spleen.
Taro, also known as taro root, is sweet, fragrant, and soft. Its nutritional value is very similar to that of potatoes, but it does not contain solanine. It is easily digested and absorbed by the body and is unlikely to cause poisoning. It is a good alkaline food.
Taro can be steamed and eaten with sugar as a staple food, or it can be used to make desserts and dishes, making it one of the most popular root vegetables.
Taro Nutritional Analysis
Its rich nutritional value can greatly enhance the body's immune function, and it is widely used as a major medicinal diet for the prevention and treatment of cancer. It has excellent therapeutic effects during cancer surgery, postoperative chemotherapy, radiotherapy, and rehabilitation.
Taro is rich in saponins, protein, phosphorus, calcium, potassium, iron, sodium, magnesium, niacin, carotene, B vitamins, vitamin C and other components. Among the minerals it contains, fluoride is the most abundant, which has the effect of protecting teeth, cleaning teeth and preventing tooth decay.
Taro is rich in various trace elements and mucilage saponins, which can help the body correct physiological abnormalities caused by a lack of trace elements. It can also improve appetite and aid digestion. Therefore, traditional Chinese medicine believes that taro can replenish qi and nourish the spleen.
Taro contains a mucoprotein that, after being digested and absorbed by the human body, can produce antibody globulins (or immunoglobulins), thereby enhancing the body's resistance. Therefore, taro has detoxifying effects, can inhibit boils and carbuncles, and can be used to prevent and treat diseases such as lymph node tuberculosis and tumors.
Taro is an alkaline food that can neutralize and eliminate acidic substances accumulated in the body, maintaining the body's acid-base balance, resulting in black hair, and also has a good preventive and therapeutic effect on excessive stomach acid.
Taro Recipe Instructions
Taro contains a compound that decomposes when heated. This substance has a good therapeutic effect on the body, but it will constantly irritate the skin and mucous membranes. Therefore, when peeling and washing taro, the skin on your hands will feel slightly itchy. Roasting the taro over a fire can immediately relieve this feeling. It is best to wear gloves when peeling and washing taro.
Taro must be thoroughly cooked before cooking, otherwise the mucus in it will cause great irritation to the throat.
Healthy Taro Recipes
(1) Avocado and Taro Porridge
Ingredients: 100g short-grain rice, 80g taro, 80g pear, 10g wheat flour, 10g vegetable oil, 2g salt.
Instructions: Rinse the rice thoroughly and soak it in cold water for 30 minutes. Drain well. Add about 1000 ml of cold water to a pot, then add the rice and bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce heat to low and simmer until it becomes porridge. Pour into a bowl. Wash the pear, peel and core it, then mash it into a puree and place it in a bowl. Add cornstarch, flour, and salt to the bowl and mix well to form an avocado paste. Wash the taro, peel it, and shred it. Coat the taro shreds evenly with the avocado paste and deep-fry in hot oil until golden brown and crispy. Drain the oil and add to the rice porridge.
Benefits: Both avocado and taro can strengthen the skin, increase its resistance and elasticity, and make the skin look firmer.
Food incompatibilities: ① Japonica rice: Japonica rice should not be eaten with horse meat or cocklebur, otherwise it may cause sudden heart pain; ② Taro: Taro should not be eaten with bananas.
(2) Taro and white goose stew
Ingredients: 5000g goose, 35g red chili peppers, 500g taro, 50g red fermented bean curd, 50g fermented black beans, 15g ginger, 25g scallions, 20g white sugar, 15g garlic, 100g soy sauce, 2g pepper powder, 35g cooking wine, 10g sesame oil, 20g cornstarch, 15g vegetable oil, 10g oyster sauce.
Instructions: Clean and dry the goose, and rub salt evenly inside the cavity. Mix fermented bean curd, fermented black beans, sugar, minced ginger, soy sauce, and wine, and place the mixture inside the goose cavity. Sew the cavity tightly with fine hemp thread and place it on a plate. Steam the plate in a pot for about one and a half hours, removing the taro first. Steam the goose meat for another half hour, then remove it and rub it with soy sauce. Add 10 grams of tea oil and 2 cups of steaming liquid, bring to a boil, and then add soy sauce, oyster sauce, pepper, sesame oil, and cornstarch to thicken the sauce. To serve, take an appropriate amount of goose meat and taro, place them in a pot, add an appropriate amount of water, and simmer over low heat until boiling. Add the thickened sauce and bring to a boil again.
Efficacy: It harmonizes the stomach and promotes the production of body fluids, replenishes deficiency and invigorates qi. It is suitable for chronic nephritis, impotence, premature ejaculation, infertility, and low libido.
Taro has a sweet and slightly spicy taste, is neutral in nature, and enters the stomach and intestines meridians. It has the effects of widening the intestines, benefiting the stomach, detoxifying, relieving constipation, reducing swelling and relieving pain, replenishing essence and marrow, tonifying the middle and benefiting the liver and kidneys, dispersing nodules, benefiting the stomach and spleen, resolving phlegm, and regulating the middle qi. It is mainly used to treat diseases such as phlegm nodules, lumps, constipation, and scrofula.