Monday 29 April 2013

WHAT IS A VEGETABLE?





We all know what vegetables are - the parts of your meal that isn't meat. However, with such a range of shapes, sizes, colours, flavours and plant parts to choose from, just what is it that constitutes a  true vegetable?


A vegetable is part of the plant harvested for food such as the seeds, root, stem or leaf of a plant.  It differs from a fruit, which is the swollen ovary of a flowering plant, and therefore contains seeds. 

Fruits and vegetables are referred to differently in botanical, culinary and retail terms, and terms are often used interchangeably. 

We use a variety of vegetables within our cooking, and utilise many parts of these plants.

What vegetables do we eat?

     Roots & Storage Roots
Beets, cassava (tapioca), horse radish, jicama, potato, parsnip, salsify, sweet, radish, rutabaga and turnip.

·       Leaves & Leafy Heads
Brussels sprouts, cabbage, endive, lettuce, kale, lettuce, parsley. 

·      Immature Flower Cluster (Inflorescence) & Stalk (Peduncle)
Broccoli, cauliflower.

·       Sunflower Head 
Artichoke.

·       Stem
Asparagus, bamboo shoots and kohlrabi.

·       Tuber (Modified stem)
Jerusalem artichoke, potato, true yams (Dioscorea).

·       Bulb (modified stem)
Chives, garlic, onion.

·       Corm (modified stem)
Taro, water chestnut.

·       Rhizome
Ginger

·       Leafy Stalk (Petiole)
     Celery, rhubarb and sweet fennel.

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