Cell wall compositions of raw and cooked corms of taro (Colocasia esculenta)

The monosaccharide compositions of parenchyma cell walls of raw and cooked corms of tare, Colocasia esculenta cv Tausala Pink, were determined. The ce ll wall constituents were sequentially extracted using CDTA, Na2CO3, 1M KOH , 4M KOH and water to leave a final residue (alpha -cellulose). The monosac charide compositions of the cell walls and cell wall fractions from the raw and cooked corms were consistent with the presence in these cell walls of large amounts of cellulose and pectic polysaccharides. The monosaccharide c omposition of the cell walls of the raw corms resembled the monosaccharide compositions of primary cell walls of other non-commelinoid monocotyledons and dicotyledons. Cooking of the corms resulted in alteration of the cell w alls, with solubilisation of pectic polysaccharides occurring earlier in th e sequential fractionation and possibly changes in the extractability of xy loglucans and/or xylans. (C) 2000 Society of Chemical Industry.