Amorphophallus konjac - Devil's Tongue

Konjac, Amorphophallus konjac

Konjac, also known as konjak, konjaku, konnyaku potato, devil's tongue, voodoo lily, snake palm, or elephant yam (though this name is also used for A. paeoniifolius), is a plant of the genus Amorphophallus.

Description

It is native to warm subtropical to tropical eastern Asia, from Japan and China south to Indonesia (USDA hardiness Zone 6-11). It is a perennial plant, growing from a large corm up to 25 cm (10 in) in diameter. The single leaf is up to 1.3 m (4 ft) across, bipinnate, and divided into numerous leaflets. The flowers are produced on a spathe enclosed by a dark purple spadix up to 55 cm (22 in) long.

The food made from the corm of this plant is widely known in English by its Japanese name, konnyaku (yam cake), being cooked and consumed primarily in Japan. The two basic types of cake are white and black. Noodles are made from konnyaku, known as shirataki.

Uses

• Konjac is grown in China, Korea, Taiwan, Japan and southeast Asia for its large starchy corms, used to create a flour and jelly of the same name. It is also used as a vegan substitute for gelatin.
• This polysaccharide makes konjac jelly highly viscous and may be responsible for many of its putative health benefits as used in traditional Chinese medicine, detoxification, tumour-suppression, blood stasis alleviation and phlegm liquefaction.
• Konjac can also be used for facial massage accessories which are currently popular in Korea and gaining popularity in the West. Most commonly this is through the use of a konjac sponge, which is unique in that it can be used on sensitive skin that may become easily irritated with more common exfoliating tools
• Konjac is used for the purpose of losing weight and supplementing dietary.

External Links

• Konjac-Wikipedia