Alphabetical List of Vegetables
An A-Z of veg, with nutrition information and cookery ideas for using some of the less common vegetables available to you.
Artichokes- there are two different species called artichoke, so please see Jerusalem Artichoke and Globe Artichoke
Asparagus- When eaten very fresh, asparagus is one of the best of all vegetables, but it has a short growing season and does not store well.
Aubergene- The white flesh of the aubergene (called eggplant in the Americas) is usually encased in a smooth deep purple-black skin, making it one of the prettiest vegetables around. A staple of eastern and middle eastern cookery. Aubergine chutney is a great way to lift the flavour qotient of a curry without adding extra calories.
Beans- high protien, rich in fibre and a staple of vegetarian and low-meat diets, beans are one of nature's real wonders.
Beet- Tubers with rich nutty flavours but often high in starch and sugars.
Broccoli - Florets of green are both delicious and attractive. The Romanesco Brocolli variety has an astounding spiral pattern that is a real natural wonder.
Brussels sprouts - A much maligned relative of the cabbage. The english love to hate sprouts but still no christmas dinner would be complete without them. The trick is to make sure they are never overcooked.
Cabbage - So healthy, so easy to grow in the garden or window box, so pretty and so very very fine.
Carrot - Carrots have been around for many hundreds of years but the orange varieties are all a fairly recent development. Carrots where white, red and purple until the 16th century.
Cauliflower- A pure white relative of broccoli, with crunchy florettes beloved by garden pests and people alike.
Celeriac - Celeriac comes as a large ball-like
root vegetable. Flavoured like a butty cabbage it is really healthy and filling.
Celery - Stalks of Celery are known as one of the ultimate diet foods. The energy gained from eating raw celery is actually less that the energy required to digest it, so eating celery instead of other snack foods is a great idea. To be honest eating any veg instead of snackfoods will help you to loose wight, so you don't need to switch to celery stalks if you dont like their taste.
Chard - green leafy vegetable that grows really well and can be harvested throughout the winter. Grow your own (so easy) and grab fresh veg from the garden every day of the year.
Chicory - a bitter vegetable that has been used as a coffee substitute as well as a traditionally steamed vegetable.
Corn- North American corn can be popped when dried. As long as you don't add loads of sugar, salt and butter, popcorn is an excellent snack food. However, when freshly steamed, sweetcorn is in my opinion one of the tastiest vegetables there is.
Cress - small peppery sprouts that are a legendary combination with boiled egg.
Cucumbers - The cucumber grows fast and holds
lots of water. Very low in calores with a fresh, gentle flavour. Another vegetable that rocks an egg sandwich.
Globe Artichoke - An unripe large flower head with delicious fleshy leaves and a 'heart' that is highly regarded for both flavour and texture. It is somewhat reminiscent of asparagus. There is a hairy inedible 'choke' in the middle that should not be eaten.
Jerusalem Artichoke - The Jerusalem Artichoke
is a type of sunflower, grown for its edible root. Small potato like nodules with a uniquely smokey flavour have long been eaten by diabetics as a potato alternative.
Kale - common green vegetable was once the most popular staple vegetable until growers developed lots of interesting new vegetables in the 15th to 18th centuries.
Kohlrabi - A large knobbly member of
the turnip family especially popular in Germany
Leek- Leeks are a brilliant vegetable. Thick stems with a mild warm flavour (a relative of the onion) and the national symbol of Wales.
Lettuce - Varieties of lettuce such as round, isberg, lollo rosso and radichio are popular all around the world.
Mushrooms- Shrooms are not technically a vegetable but we cook and eat them as if they were. They grow underground and send fruiting bodies up above the surface. There are thousands of varieties and some mushrooms are poisonous but most are not. A small number of varieties are totally delicious to eat. In europe and america only one variety was grown commercially until fairly recently, but now several dozen are available in the shops. Out in the wold hundreds more are waiting for the knowledgeable picker.
Okra - Okra or
gumbo is a North African
staple also popular in the southern states of the USA too. Highly fragranced and fleshy little vegetables are generally used as an ingredient in stews and curries rather than eaten on their own.
Onions - Onions are a global staple. Almost every country around the world includes onion as a key flavour. They are healthy sweet and delicious.
Parsnips - Starchy parsnips provide sweetness and starch. Delicious when roasted.
Peas - An early crop of peas is the sing that summer is arriving. Very healthy vegetable, the pea, but it does start to break down in flavour almost immediately after being picked, so frozen peas actually seem fresher than 'fresh' peas. The best peas of all are the ones you grow yourself, pick from the garden and throw into the pot to boil within a few minutes.
Peppers - There are loads of varieties of peppers and the hot tasting ones are usually known as chillies.
Potatoes - A native American staple crop that as been exported all over the world.
Pumpkins - A popular autumn gourd vegetable.
Radish - small red peppery vegetables great in salads.
Rhubarb - Rhubarb stems are popularly eaten as a fruit once sweetened and cooked. Rhubarb grows well when lots of fertiliser is used. The best source in horse manure.
Spinach- Large green leaves that wilt immediately heat is applied. Spinach contains many healthy minerals.
Swede - a low calorie root vegetable that grows into dense balls. Excellent value and good for dieters.
Sweet potato A starchy tube related
to the morning glory vine
Tomatoes - not technically a vegetable,
but a fruit. Italian food wouldn't be the same without them.
Turnips - Root vegetable that can grow to enourmous sizes.
Watercress - very peppery small salad like leaves
Yams - Sweet starchy tuber that are popular in African, Carribean and American cookery
