Vegetable Classifications

• Vocational Education
• 9-12 Grade

Do you know
your vegetables?

Unit 3 Vegetables

What are we going to learn?

What are we going to learn?

• Classifications
• Nutritional Value
• Selecting & Storing
• Fresh, Canned, Frozen, Dried
• Preparation
• Methods of Cooking

Classifications

Vegetables are often grouped together based on what part of the plant they come from:

• Bulbs
• Flowers
• Fruits
• Stems

• Leaves
• Seeds
• Tubers
• Roots

Bulbs

• Onion: strongly flavored; aromatic (smell); red, white, & yellow
• Garlic: composed of small cloves surrounded by a papery husk
• Green Onion: called scallions, immature green stalks of bulb onions
• Leek: fat, overgrown scallions

Flowers

• Broccoli: thick central stalk topped with one or more heads of green florets
• Artichokes: immature plant of the thistle plant
• Cauliflower: the head is surrounded by green leaves and composed of white florets. 
• Squash Blossom

Fruits

• Tomatoes: wide variety of shapes, sizes, and color
• Cucumber: pickling and slicing
• Peppers: wide ranges of colors and shapes, get their heat from capsaicin
• Squash: winter and summer, center cavity filled with seeds

Stems

• Asparagus: member of the lily family, white or green
• Celery: once a medicinal herb, pale green with stringy curved stalks
• Bamboo: tender young shoots of certain varieties
• Hearts of Palm: interiors of stems from cabbage palm trees

Leaves

• Spinach: smooth, bright green leaves attached to thin stems
• Lettuce: variety of types and colors, perfect for salads
• Cabbage: green and red, tightly packed leaves, red is tougher than green
• Brussel Sprouts: similar to baby cabbages

Seeds

• Peas (legumes): loose flavor rapidly, sold canned or frozen
• Corn: grain; yellow or white; attached to a cob; encased by silks; covered in husks
• Beans (legumes): dried 
• Okra: not eaten raw, develops a gelatinous nature, do not wash until ready to cook

Tubers

• Potatoes: swollen fleshy part of the underground stem
• Yams: less sweet than sweet potatoes; creamy white to dep red
• Sunchokes: from a variety of sunflower; lumpy and brown
• Jicama: a legume that grows underground; thick brown skin and moist white flesh

Roots

• Radishes: peppery flavor and crisp texture; many colors and shapes
• Beets: grow most of the year
• Carrots: most versatile; variety of colors; Imperator is the most common
• Parsnips: look and taste like white carrots; texture of sweet potatoes

Flowers

Bulbs

Fruit

Stems

Seeds

Leaves

Roots

Tubers