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Vegetables
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Like fruits, vegetables are becoming more important and popular as more focus is being put on healthy living and healthy diets. There has also been an increase in people following vegetarian diets, which has led to restaurant and food-service operations increasing the variety of vegetables they offer. From quick service to fine dining, more vegetables are being incorporated into meals and being put on menus. Vegetables provide nutrition as well as flavor, texture, color, and variety to a meal. Vegetables are not only a side dish but are also main courses themselves
A vegetable is an edible, herb-like plant. The parts of vegetables that people eat include the leaves, fruit, stems, roots, tubers, seeds, and flowers. Vegetables can be purchased whole or cut in fresh, frozen, canned, and dried forms. Unlike fruits, vegetables are eaten cooked more often than raw. Vegetables are often categorized by their botanical origins or by their edible parts. They may be classified as a flower, fruit, green leafy, seed, root/tuber, or stem vegetable.
Flower Vegetables
Flower vegetables include broccoli, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts, and cabbage. When we think of cooking these products, we focus on the “head” of the vegetable.
Fruit Vegetables
Fruit vegetables include avocados, cucumbers, eggplants, peppers, squash, and tomatoes. These products come from flowering plants and have seeds, which technically make them fruits. But when we think of how we eat them, we eat them as vegetables.
Leafy Green Vegetables
Green leafy vegetables include various types of lettuce, mustard greens, spinach, and Swiss chard. Green leafy vegetables are very high in vitamins A and C, iron, and magnesium.
Seed Vegetables
Seed vegetables include corn, peas, and beans. In this category, the edible portions of the vegetable (kernels, peas) are actually seeds.
Root Vegetables
Root vegetables and tubers are grouped together because part, or all, of the part people eat grows underground. Root vegetables are rich in sugars, starches, vitamins, and minerals. These plants exist both above and below ground. A single root extends into the ground and provides nutrients to the leafy green part of the vegetable that is above the ground. Some common root vegetables include carrots, beets, radishes, turnips, and onions. Tuber vegetables include potatoes, sweet potatoes, and yams. Tubers are enlarged, bulbous roots capable of generating a new plant. Tubers are actually fat, underground stems.
Stem Vegetables
Stem vegetables include asparagus, celery, artichokes, and mushrooms. In this category, the vegetables that we eat are the stems of plants.
Washing Vegetables
All fresh vegetables, even if they will be peeled before cutting, must be cleaned thoroughly. Washing removes surface dirt as well as bacteria and other contaminants. Leafy vegetables contain sand and dirt, and even bugs. Celery and leeks are always dirty at the root. To clean vegetables, run them under water that is a little warmer than the produce. When cleaning leafy greens, such as lettuce and spinach, remove the outer leaves, and pull the lettuce and spinach completely apart and rinse thoroughly. As with fruit, special solutions are available for cleaning vegetables. Wash vegetables as close to preparation time as possible.
How to Prepare Vegetables
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