Although taro is widely grown in Ethiopia, it is an underutilized crop and little is
known about its proximate and micro-element composition and the antinutritional
factors of the raw, boiled and fermented products. Boiling and fermentation
processing techniques are widely used in the country, especially within the rural
community of the Southern region where the crop grows widely. A cultivar of taro
grown in the country was analyzed for proximate and mineral composition and
antinutritional factors. An investigation was also made on the effects of boiling and
fermentation on the nutritional contents. Protein, fat, fiber, total ash and utilizable
carbohydrates, respectively were found to be 6.43, 0.47, 2.63, 4.82 and 85.65%, while
the Gross Energy was 372.55 Kcal/100g. The contents of the micronutrients namely:
Fe, Zn, Mg, Ca, Na, P and Mn were 5.86, 43.08, 7.24, 45.23, 13.81, 7.77 and 3.61
mg/100g, respectively. Phytate for the raw product was 115.43 while oxalate and
tannin were 243.06 and 47.69 mg/100g, respectively. Cyanide was not detected in all
the samples. There was a significant difference (p < 0.05) in the contents of the
proximate and mineral composition and antinutritional factors during boiling and
fermentation. The protein content was lower by 9.37% and 8.46%, respectively, in the
boiled and fermented products, under the sampling and processing conditions used in
the study. The crude fat content was significantly different (p < 0.05) from the crude
fat content of the boiled product which was 0.87%. On the other hand, analysis of
variance conducted showed that the fiber content of raw sample was significantly
different from the fermented samples. Fermentation resulted in a lower level of fiber
which was 6.44% and phytates of about 84.75%. Boiling of taro resulted in a higher
value of oxalate (70.9%). The data presented in this paper provide an evidence of the
potential of Boloso I (which is one variety of taro) to serve as a nutrient dense product
for the Ethiopian population provided that the techniques of its processing are
optimized.