| Konjac Amorphophallus konjac | |
|---|---|
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Scientific classification 
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| Kingdom: | Plantae |
| Clade: | Tracheophytes |
| Clade: | Angiosperms |
| Clade: | Monocots |
| Order: | Alismatales |
| Family: | Araceae |
| Genus: | Amorphophallus |
| Species: | A. konjac
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| Binomial name | |
| Amorphophallus konjac | |
| Synonyms[1] | |
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Konjac (or konjak, English: /ˈkɒnjæk, ˈkɒndʒæk/ KON-yak, KON-jak) and konnyaku are common names of Amorphophallus konjac,[2] a vegetable species native to Yunnan in southwest China which has an edible corm. It is also known as konjaku, konnyaku potato, devil's tongue,[2] voodoo lily, snake palm, or elephant yam (though this name is also used for A. paeoniifolius). It is a relative of the titan arum (A. titanum), one of the largest flowering plants in the world and a congener of konjac.[3]
It is cultivated in warm subtropical to tropical areas of East and Southeast Asia, from China and Japan south to Indonesia and Vietnam (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.[4] 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 also widely known in English by its Japanese name konnyaku,[5]: 595 [2] it is cooked and consumed primarily in China, Japan and Korea. The two basic types of cake are white and black. Noodles made from konnyaku are called shirataki. The corm of the konjac is often colloquially referred to as a yam, though it is not related to tubers of the family Dioscoreaceae.
- ^ "Amorphophallus konjac K. Koch". World Flora Online. World Flora Consortium. 2022. Retrieved 17 December 2022.
- ^ a b c Evans, Toshie M. (1997). "konnyaku". A Dictionary of Japanese Loanwords. Westport, Connecticut, USA: Greenwood Press. p. 92. ISBN 978-0-313-28741-1.
- ^ "Titan Arum". National Taiwan Museum. 2017-11-06. Retrieved 2024-08-19.
- ^ "Amorphophallus Konjac". Archived from the original on 21 August 2014. Retrieved 20 August 2014.
- ^ Ray, Ramesh C.; Behera, Sudhanshu S. (2016). "13: Amorphophallus: Technological Interventions". In Sharma, Harish K.; Njintang, Nicolas Y.; Singhal, Rekha S.; Kaushal, Pragati (eds.). Tropical Roots and Tubers: Production, Processing and Technology. West Sussex, England, UK: John Wiley & Sons. pp. 591–606. ISBN 978-1-118-99269-2.