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Cocoyams at Carousel House Farm

If you stopped by the farm last summer, you likely noticed a row of large, green elephant ear leaves growing next to the corn. Walk around Philly in the summer, and you may see these leaves growing ornamentally in front of some of your neighbors’ houses. These are the leaves of the taro plant. Taro thrives in tropical climates, although some cultivars can overwinter in colder areas like Philadelphia, and has been domesticated in communities across Africa, Asia, and Oceania. Given its nutrient density (high levels of calcium and iron as well as vitamins A, E, and C), and the edible nature of its leaves, stems, and roots, it is a well-established staple crop for over 400 million people worldwide. 

There are nearly as many names and cultivars of taro as there are ways to cook it, and at the Carousel House Farm we have been stewarding a West African variety known in Ghana as cocoyam. Cocoyam is commonly grown across West and Central Africa, in both domesticated and wild settings, and is sometimes used as a companion plant for cocoa seedlings given the protective nature of its large leaves. We were introduced to the plant by Donnel Brown, a longtime grower and former Farm Philly teammate, who remembers growing and eating cocoyam as a child growing up in Ghana and was looking for space to grow it in Philly. With Donnel’s guidance, and the shared knowledge of many in our farm community, we have been growing cocoyam at our farm in West Philly for the past two years.

Cocoyams early in the season.

 All parts of the plant are edible – although they must be cooked thoroughly due to high levels of calcium oxalate – and we have been harvesting the leaves during the active growing season to share with community members. Last summer, Donnel led a public workshop in partnership with SWWAG (South Southwest Agriculture Group) in which she showed us how to harvest and cook the cocoyam leaves, or kontomire, into egusi (or agushi) stew. It may have been one of, if not the, best meals that we have cooked together on the farm.

Later in the season, ecologist Torjia Karimu aka Mr. Tee, stopped by the farm to ask us about those distinctive green leaves. He had been working nearby as a Natural Lands Coordinator for Fairmount Park Conservancy and recognized the cocoyam immediately as the same crop that people grow at the back of their home gardens in his native Sierra Leone. They are drought tolerant and low maintenance, which only adds to their popularity as a staple crop. With a deep wealth of knowledge and an affable inclination towards teaching, Mr. Tee offered to show us how to harvest the corm (roots) of the plant. Depending on the growing conditions, the corms will mature enough in two seasons to be ready to eat. 

Participants at a farm event.
Donnel Brown poses during the Cocoyam event at Carousel House Farm.
Mr. Tee holds a cocoyam
Mr. Tee holds a cocoyam.

Mr. Tee joined us during our weekly PowerCorps TRUST workday to teach us about the biology of the plant, and how to harvest the roots. As we began digging, we found that we had a good mix of corms that were big enough to eat, and some that could be saved to use as seed for next season. We decided, in the end, that we would try our luck keeping half of the plants in the ground to see if they would continue to mature next season. So what does that mean for cocoyam at Carousel House Farm? It means next season we’ll be celebrating the third year of cultivation at our farm, and with the abundance of care and curiosity that it’s elicited during these first two years of tending, we’re sure there are many years to come for the beautiful, green cocoyam plants in West Philly.

Sources:

Expert Interviews: Donnel Brown, Torjia Karimu

Article: Boakye AA et al. Utilizing cocoyam (Xanthosoma sagittifolium) for food and nutrition security: A review. Food Sci Nutr. 2018 Mar 13;6(4):703-713.

Video: Introducing Taro aka Cocoyam with Michael Carter

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