How to Get Food From a Malanga Plant
You are marooned on a large island somewhere in the Caribbean. Luckily, you've been able to find a spring of fresh water, and you've erected a crude shelter for yourself using palm leaves and other materials lying about. But now, three days since you finally admitted to yourself that you were lost, your stomach is rumbling unbearably and you know that you need to find food--now. Stay calm. Your geographic location would suggest that you aren't far from a malanga plant, and that means sustenance.
Other People Are Reading
Instructions
-
-
1
Learn well how to identify a malanga plant (Xanthosoma caracu). Malanga grow to be 2 to 3 feet tall, with rich, green leaves up to 2 feet long and half a foot in width, each shaped like an arrow. The leaves are the bulk of the plant, with the stem mostly underground.
-
2
Locate a malanga plant. Look for malanga in open, sunny areas anywhere in the Caribbean.
-
-
3
Use your hands to dig up the entire malanga plant, roots and all.
-
4
Rinse the plant, especially the roots, with fresh water to remove all dirt and grime.
-
5
Tear off the malanga's tubers. They look like small, somewhat hairy potatoes. Rinse the tubers separately once more.
-
6
Throw the tubers into a pot of boiling water and leave them there for at least ten minutes. The tubers, a good source of starch, are now ready to eat.
-
1
Tips & Warnings
If you aren't sure that you are dealing with a malanga plant, don't eat any part of it--as you can never be sure that you aren't eating something poisonous or otherwise harmful to your health!
Don't eat the tubers raw. There's a chemical in the plant that could be harmful to the human body and the boiling process destroys it.
