Post harvest handling, processing and value addition of elephant foot yam — An overview

Elephant foot yams (Amorphophallus spp.), a tropical tuberous root crop, is grown as vegetable crop in many Asian and African countries due to its high production potential and nutritional values. Apart from culinary purpose, the tubers are also used for developing many processed food products, nutraceutical foods like konjac glucomannan (from Amorphophallus konjac) and several indigenous and traditional medicines. Like other vegetable crops, elephant foot yam tubers are subjected to several forms of post harvest losses such as weight loss, microbial infection and insect pest attack. In this article, the various issues related to post harvest handling, storage methods, diseases and pests, and traditional and novel value-added products (both as food and medicines) are briefly reviewed.