By Nazario Rodriguez Jr.
Horizon news staff

Palau is one of the countries in the Pacific with the best in taro products. Taro is cooked in different styles on almost all occasions whether at home, in public activities and in hotel functions. It is in fact the Palauans’ staple food like in almost all Islands in the Pacific.
Here’s the score. If the Asians have the rice wine because rice is their staple food then Palauans have also the taro wine.
The taro wine became the main attraction in last week’s agro-tourism demonstration at the Taiwan Technical Mission center in Aimeliik State known as Nekken Farm.
And there were other products out of taro that the Nekken Farm is introducing for tourists to taste when they come at the site like jam or even ice cream.
But did you know that aside from producing processed products from taro, there are other local agricultural crops that could be developed into cash like the noni wine, vinegar, jam, juice and dried; or other wines like start fruit, guava, football, banana, papaya.
TTM’s menu during the demonstration also included noni chicken, tapioca cake and others that were not seen before but the Palauans could improve and make profit out of it.
As TTM Leader Dr. Ming-Lii Hseu explained, the demonstration’s main goal is to showcase the local culture to the tourists.
Hseu said that all the States in Palau especially in Babeldaob could benefit economically from by good packaging on local products.
He explained that tourists come in to see what the host country could offer like what residents from Aimeliik and Ngtapang served during the demonstration.
The menu from Chelauesachel Farm included pound taro with coconut syrup, fried taro, fried rice, demok (taro with coconut milk), dessert like elang ice cream made of taro stem, uled (cocnut candy), odoim such as fried fish, clam with coconut milk, beldakl rull (sting ray soup with Amra tree leaves), Cheredoched lud (fried oyster), chicken steamed with papaya, cheredoched Kmai (fried crab) and others.
Menu from Ngatpang included boiled tapioca, grinded tapioca with coconut milk, boiled grinded tapioca, steamed tapioca, tapioca sushi, tapioca suman; dessert like tapioca chips, sweetened fried tapioca, charcoaled tapioca with sweetened coconut milk, tapioca sweet balls, and diokang kelab; Odiim like tapioca leaf soup, tapioca noni chicken soup, tapioca fish balls, kim sashimi, soup’fired sea cucumber and crab in coconut milk; the diokang ‘l salad and tapioca drink.
With proper processing, the taro wine and other local agricultural crops could be improved for visitors to enjoy more on their stay and help uplift the Palauan economic well-being especially in the villages and the tourism industry and the country’s economy in general.