Tuesday, December 14, 2010

Uwajimaya

Where do you go to find Aloe Vera leaves… (the label reads…Aloe Vera the best solution)
Yucca root…
And Baby Taro root?
Well Uwajimaya of course! Uwajimaya is one of the largest Asian grocery stores in the Pacific Northwest. These garden staples, as well as several other interesting fruits and vegetables were all on hand during a recent visit. What do you think of these curiosities?
Buddha's Hand Citrus.
Dragon Fruit.
Horned Melon.
And for the truly adventurous…Basil Seed drink (with honey!).
To add a little touch of the danger garden there were two cacti.
Their presence was a bit of a mystery. There is no floral and plant department like at Trader Joes. No these little spiky guys were just hanging out, an anomaly in the produce department.
So back to that baby Taro Root. This should be related to the Taro we grow in the garden as Colocasia right? Has anyone ever successfully grown Taro bought in the produce department at a grocery store? For the cheap price of $1.99/lb I bought a few. We’ll see what happens.

13 comments:

  1. I had a friend who managed to get ginger root from the grocery store to grow. I don't know for certain, but I have a feeling that most root veggies like taro are probably treated with an anti-sprouting dust, like potatoes. So it might be a challenge. But go for it!

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  2. cool! i've been looking for fresh figs all over the place, and it looks like they might have some! and there's a convenient location in renton! fun!

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  3. You can find some pretty wild stuff at the market! I love looking through all the different fruits and veg. So curious :)

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  4. I believe edible taro is Colocasia esculenta -- the same as a lot of the ornamental taros. I've never tried it from grovery store tubers, but I think I've heard of other people doing it successfully.

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  5. we love Uwajimaya and we live pretty close by. When we lived in Japan I remember a tv ad with women and girls stopping at potted aloe veras on the street to sing a thank you song to them, for being the ingredient in their favorite skin creams.

    H-Mart in Tigard is also big and great, it's less diverse but more focused on Korean food. They have some of the best kimchee in town!

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  6. Yes a lot of people in the UK grow their colocasias from the taro like that. I did a few years ago before I stopped growing aroids.
    There is a website somewhere that provides a link between what you find in grocery stores and the plant you buy from nurseries. I'll try and find it.

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  7. If you like Uwajimaya, you should try Fubonn at 2850 SE 82nd Ave. It's even bigger than Uwajimaya and feels more like a cut-rate supermarket, with high, brilliant lighting, but the selection is amazing (how many kinds of cellophane noodles could there be in the world?) And it's closer to you.

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  8. It's called "araimo" (-imo meaning potato, although it really isn't, obviously) in Japanese.

    If you've never cooked it before, it's kind of gluey, but I like it. It can also, like taro, make you itch. My mom used to peel it in a bowl of water - until we discovered that the frozen section of our market had bags of stuff already peeled. Philistines, I know.

    And for some reason, she has it growing wild in her yard. She doesn't have a lot of it, but she can't seem to get rid of it, either.

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  9. Your baby taro is eddoes, one of the many edible taro /colocasia types. They do grow from the ones I buy in the market.

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  10. Alison, your mention of the anti-sprouting dust makes sense, but sense I've already bough them I'll give it a whirl.

    gina, they may! Good luck.

    Laura, I felt a little self conscious taking pictures of the things people were buying to eat..but I was fascinated.

    Greensparrow, I'll report, either way.

    Ryan, hopefully the one in Chinatown will be under construction soon, that will make us very happy. Thanks for the heads up about the Korean place...can you recommend a good Korean BBQ?

    Spiky O, thank you for the encouragement, and if you find the website I would love the link.

    Jane, this is one of those places we always have meant to visit...thank you for the push!

    Shelley, I've heard of Colocasia running rampant in some gardens.

    Nicole, no plans to eat it, but I will try to grow it.

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  11. I've sprouted and grown ginger root. Makes a sort of bamboo-leaved plant. I never got the growing conditions right, it was always brown-tipped and haggard looking.

    (this was when I was in Michigan. Might try that experiment again...)

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  12. I'll be interested to see what happens with your bulbs...it's fascinating when something sprouts from meager beginnings.

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  13. the Buddha's Hand Citrus is how much ?

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