Journal of Food, Agriculture and Environment

Reduction in oxalate content during the preparation of a traditional Tongan dessert

Author(s):

E. M. Dahlgren ¹, G. P. Savage ^2*

Recieved Date: 2007-05-18, Accepted Date: 2007-07-28

Abstract:

A traditional Tongan dessert is made from two plants which commonly grow in the Tongan group of islands. Taro (Colocasia esculenta var. Schott) leaves and starch prepared from cassava (Manihot esculenta Crantz) tubers are the two main ingredients. In this study, the dessert which is called Faikakai Ngou‘a in Tongan, was prepared from locally grown freshly harvested taro (cv. Maori) leaves using simple domestic kitchen methods. The dark green heart-shaped taro leaves have a bitter taste and contain high levels of oxalate that can be eliminated by cooking and processing. Raw taro leaves contained 6.48±0.06 g total oxalate kg^-1 fresh weight (FW), 49% as soluble oxalate. In this study the oxalate content of the cooked product was significantly lower than that of the original taro leaves. Faikakai Ngou‘a contained 2.80±0.06 g total oxalates kg^-1 FW, of which 12% were soluble. Soluble oxalate was removed in the cooking water and the total oxalate content of the final product was also reduced by dilution following the addition of cassava starch. The final product retained the essential taste and acceptable brown-black green colour (CIE colour values L* 25.18±0.33, a* -2.87±0.04, b* 5.76±0.09) of taro leaves without the background content and sharp taste of oxalate. The final product had a firm, non-sticky texture that was acceptable to Tongan consumers.

Keywords:

Taro leaves, Colocasia esculenta var. Schott, soluble oxalate, insoluble oxalate, proximate analysis, CIE L*a*b* colour values, cooking

---

Journal: Journal of Food, Agriculture and Environment
Year: 2007
Volume: 5
Issue: 3&4
Category: Food and Health
Pages: 29-31

---

Full text for Subscribers

---

Information:

Note to users

The requested document is freely available only to subscribers/registered users with an online subscription to the Journal of Food, Agriculture & Environment. If you have set up a personal subscription to this title please enter your user name and password. All abstracts are available for free.

Article purchasing

If you like to purchase this specific document such as article, review or this journal issue, contact us. Specify the title of the article or review, issue, number, volume and date of the publication. Software and compilation, Science & Technology, all rights reserved. Your use of this website details or service is governed by terms of use. Authors are invited to check from time to time news or information.

---

Purchase this Article:   20 Purchase PDF Order Reprints for 15

---

Share this article :