Jimmy K. Laking
I just planted my first karlang plants at the edge of a canal where rainfall occasionally flows. Most times, the canal is just generally damp. So I thought that instead of weeds and shrubs occupying the area and that are not good to look to, replacing them with karlang is not a bad idea.
In just a few months, my neighbors and I can not only gawk at the plants but can also peel off their trunks as supplemental food.
Besides, the edge of the canal is comprised of top soil so it is ideal for root crops. For planting materials, I uprooted several plants growing in an open space in the midst of a coconut grove and it is a wonder to discover that days after planting, the plants begun to sprout new leaves.
They seemed to welcome the change in venue.
So if space would allow in both urban and rural settings, I strongly recommend the insertion of a few karlang as peripheral plants into a garden. It would be a fruitful investment, both in the short and in the long-term.
The karlang is not to be mistaken for the gabi or taro, another wonderful root crop cherished by Hawaiians and by upland communities.
The karlang (Xanthosoma sagittifolium) is a versatile plant also known as “gabi’ng San Fernando,” and takudo or pakudo. It is universally known as tannia or yautia.
A study published by the Leyte-based Visayas State University said the plant is to be differentiated from the gabi by its more robust and taller trunks. It does not tolerate water-log unlike gabi. Unlike the gabi, it is the cormels of the plant that are generally harvested for food. The cormels are the secondary corms that are generally smaller than the primary corms or fruits. Like the gabi, its leaves are also edible and is relished in the Tagalog and Visayan regions when spiced with coconut milk.
It is also known best as a meat extender in most cooking.
In northern Luzon, both the gabi and karlang are supplemental foods. Their fruits and trunks are also incorporated as pig food.
The study noted that karlang from Southern Leyte is preferred best in major cities in the Visayas due to its excellent and eating quality. The study added there is an excess demand of about 46% for karlang, underscoring a huge agribusiness potential.
The study, among other things, stressed that given more processing establishments, demand for this root crop can further expand.
The crop is so versatile it can fit into any cooking. It can be boiled by itself and eaten like you would a gabi or sweet potato (camote).
Time and again, its trunks can be peeled off as part of a menu or dish.
It is probably one of many crops that can be self-sufficient. That is, it does not require much inputs when planted although a cultivated soil is considered ideal for the plant to allow it to produce more cormels. As with other root crops, the looser the soil, the more chances for its roots to develop into cormels or at least that is how I had observed it close up.
Where the soil is fertile, the karlang can often grow beyond 5 feet.
Households that dabble in small piggeries also prefer karlang as an additional source of nutrients for their animals.
As food, karlang like taro is also known to carry more calories than potatoes. The corms have high dietary fibers and antioxidants.
The plant is also an excellent source of B-carotenes and a host of minerals and vitamins.
In short, like gabi, it is a health food that should earn its rightful place in any garden.