Does anyone know if it's okay to freeze whole taro leaves?

[reub1701]

a friend just brought me some taro leaves from Hawaii and was wondering if anyone new if it was okay to freeze them whole. i know that i can freeze them after they're cooked but i don't really have the time to make the dish ( i'm making lau lau, by the way) until next week.

[KaimukiMan]

A lau lau has two layers of leaves. The outer layer is usually the Ti leaf with the innner leaves, the ones you eat, being taro. Banana Leaves could possibly be used for the outer layer. As the inner leaves end up being a lot like cooked spinach in texture, probably freezing them is not going to do a lot of damage in terms of the final cooked product. But they will probably be more difficult to prepare for cooking as wrapping them around the protein (pork, fish) could be an issue.

[Shaw Oliver]

I'm not sure what choice you have aside from making the dish early and then freezing the whole thing. Seems to me that taro leaves might turn a bit mushy when frozen. You could always sub banana leaves instead (?).