Vegetables Flashcards
What is a vegetable?
- Any part of the plant you eat that is not a fruit
- Vegetative portion of plant
Is vegetable a botanical definition?
- No
- It is a cultural word
Leaves give what kind of ‘vegetable’?
- Lettuce, Cabbage
Stems give what kind of ‘vegetable’?
- Broccoli
Petioles give what kind of ‘vegetable’?
- Celery, rhubarb
Branches give what kind of ‘vegetable’?
- Brussels sprouts
Roots give what kind of ‘vegetable’?
- Carrots
Rhizomes give what kind of ‘vegetable’?
- Ginger
Tubers (enlarged stem or rhizome) give what kind of ‘vegetable’?
- Potatoes
What are the 3 major plant families that provide our vegetables?
- Amarylliaceae (Amaryllis family)
- Brassicaceae (Mustard family)
- Solanaceae (Nightshade family)
Amarylliaceae
- Amaryllis family
- Monocot
- Edible bulbs
- Bulbs planted before winter
Examples of Amarylliaceae vegetables
- Onion, Garlic (same genus)
- Shallot
- Leek
- Chive
Where does the pungency in Amarylliaceae vegetables come from? Why do they make the eyes water?
- Volatile sulphur compounds
- Changed by enzymes to become pungent, makes eyes water
Where is much of the flavour in onions/garlic?
- The smell, i.e. pungent sulphur compounds
Onion
- Amarylliaceae family
- Allium cepa
Garlic
- Amarylliaceae family
- Allium sativum
- Contains Allicin
Allicin
- Active ingredient that is good for health
- Stimulates immune system
- Contained in garlic, small amount in onion
Brassicaceae, and where from?
- Mustard family
- Physical structures variable and malleable
- Ancestor plant is wild mustard from north shore mediterranean
- Fram Brassica oleraceae
Brassicaceae vegetables
- Cabbage
- Brussels spouts
- Broccoli
- Cauliflower
- Kale
- Radish
- Turnip
- Daikon
- Kohlrabi
- Rutabaga
Cabbage
- Brassica
- Short internodes, tightly packed leaves
- Many forms (savoy, chinese, napa, bak choy)
Brussels Sprouts
- Brassica
- Heads like cabbage, but are lateral branches
Broccoli
- Brassica
- Tight pack rosette plant with many branches
- Eat the flowering buds before they flower
Cauliflower
- Brassica
- Like broccoli
- Infertile flower heads
Kale
- Brassica
- Leaves loosely packed in a rosette
Solanaceae
- Nightshade family
- Named after flower structure?
- Botanically they are Fruits
- Edible part is often the ‘berry’
Solanaceae vegetables
- Tomato
- Eggplant
- Bell Pepper
- Chili Pepper
- Potato
Tomato
- Solanum lycopersicum
- Native to central and south America
- Aztec name ‘tomatl’
- Brought to Europe in 1550’s by Spanish
- Thought poisonous in places b/c other solanaceous plants are actually poisonous
Datura
- Deadly nightshade
- Tropane Alkaloids
- Poisonous
- Caused fear in some cultures of eating other nightshades like tomatoes
Eggplant
- Solanum melogena
Bell pepper and chili pepper
- Capsicum spp.
- Solanaceae family
Potato, family and where from?
- Solanaceae family
- Solanum tuberosum
- Scientifically described in Europe in 1596
- Native to Andes, SA (Peru, Bolivia, Chile)
- Staple food on the Altiplano
How big is the Solanum genus? How many make tubers like potato?
- Over 2000 plus species
- Approx. 200 make tubers
Potato is a popular crop, what number is it in world crop tonnage?
- 5th highest by tonnage in world production
How many varieties of potato are there at the International Potato Centre in Peru?
- Approx. 5000 varieties of Potato
How many varieties of potato can one Andean village cultivate?
- 10 plus varieties
Solanine
- Toxic alkaloid contained in potatoes
- Concentrations light (look green) but not destroyed by cooking
- Solution: geophagy, and keeping potatoes in the dark b/c light increases toxins
Geophagy
- ‘Earth eating’
- Eat clay to bind to toxins and remove from digestive system
- Used to combat Solanine in potatoes
Why are potatoes a top crop and eaten in many places?
- Lots of starch makes potatoes a good food source
- Nutritious, can survive on them (i.e. The Martian)
What is an advantage of tuber crops?
- They can get big underground
- Means lots of food from starches
When did potato cultivation spread across Europe?
- After the Spanish brought it over
- Spread slowly
- Same concerns about edibility as tomato (i.e. nightshades have some poisonous species)
When did potatoes become an important food source and why?
- Famines across Europe in 1500-1800 (40 in France alone)
- Prussian King ordered eating of potato in 1744
- Promoted in France with King Louis XVI when price of wheat went very high
- Became staple food in 1800 and famines ended
History of potato cultivation, major industry developments
- 1840’s, German chemist identified nitrogen as necessity for plant growth
- Imported Peruvian seabird guano for fertilizer
- 1st big industry in intensive crop fertilization
European potato blight
- Phytophthora infestens, a fungus
- Attacks nightshade family plants in particular
- Led to Great Irish Potato Famine 1847
- Devastating b/c potato was a huge food source at the time
Great Irish Potato Famine
- 1847
- Million people died of starvation w/in a few years b/c of destruction of potato crop by potato blight
Potato bug
- Beetle
- Arrived in Colorado in 1860’s
- Massive infestations
- Solution was using arsenic and copper
- Led to birth of chemical pesticide industry
3 developments potato farming led to
- Intensive crop fertilization
- Monoculture farming
- Birth of chemical pesticide industry
