Vegetables

Question 1

What is a vegetable?

Answer 1

• Any part of the plant you eat that is not a fruit

- Vegetative portion of plant

Question 2

Is vegetable a botanical definition?

Answer 2

• No

- It is a cultural word

Question 3

Leaves give what kind of ‘vegetable’?

Answer 3

• Lettuce, Cabbage

Question 4

Stems give what kind of ‘vegetable’?

Answer 4

• Broccoli

Question 5

Petioles give what kind of ‘vegetable’?

Answer 5

• Celery, rhubarb

Question 6

Branches give what kind of ‘vegetable’?

Answer 6

• Brussels sprouts

Question 7

Roots give what kind of ‘vegetable’?

Answer 7

• Carrots

Question 8

Rhizomes give what kind of ‘vegetable’?

Answer 8

• Ginger

Question 9

Tubers (enlarged stem or rhizome) give what kind of ‘vegetable’?

Answer 9

• Potatoes

Question 10

What are the 3 major plant families that provide our vegetables?

Answer 10

• Amarylliaceae (Amaryllis family)
• Brassicaceae (Mustard family)
• Solanaceae (Nightshade family)

Question 11

Amarylliaceae

Answer 11

• Amaryllis family
• Monocot
• Edible bulbs
• Bulbs planted before winter

Question 12

Examples of Amarylliaceae vegetables

Answer 12

• Onion, Garlic (same genus)
• Shallot
• Leek
• Chive

Question 13

Where does the pungency in Amarylliaceae vegetables come from? Why do they make the eyes water?

Answer 13

• Volatile sulphur compounds

- Changed by enzymes to become pungent, makes eyes water

Question 14

Where is much of the flavour in onions/garlic?

Answer 14

• The smell, i.e. pungent sulphur compounds

Question 15

Onion

Answer 15

• Amarylliaceae family

- Allium cepa

Question 16

Garlic

Answer 16

• Amarylliaceae family
• Allium sativum
• Contains Allicin

Question 17

Allicin

Answer 17

• Active ingredient that is good for health
• Stimulates immune system
• Contained in garlic, small amount in onion

Question 18

Brassicaceae, and where from?

Answer 18

• Mustard family
• Physical structures variable and malleable
• Ancestor plant is wild mustard from north shore mediterranean
• Fram Brassica oleraceae

Question 19

Brassicaceae vegetables

Answer 19

• Cabbage
• Brussels spouts
• Broccoli
• Cauliflower
• Kale
• Radish
• Turnip
• Daikon
• Kohlrabi
• Rutabaga

Question 20

Cabbage

Answer 20

• Brassica
• Short internodes, tightly packed leaves
• Many forms (savoy, chinese, napa, bak choy)

Question 21

Brussels Sprouts

Answer 21

• Brassica

- Heads like cabbage, but are lateral branches

Question 22

Broccoli

Answer 22

• Brassica
• Tight pack rosette plant with many branches
• Eat the flowering buds before they flower

Question 23

Cauliflower

Answer 23

• Brassica
• Like broccoli
• Infertile flower heads

Question 24

Kale

Answer 24

• Brassica

- Leaves loosely packed in a rosette

Question 25

Solanaceae

Answer 25

- Nightshade family - Named after flower structure? - Botanically they are Fruits - Edible part is often the 'berry'

Question 26

Solanaceae vegetables

Answer 26

- Tomato - Eggplant - Bell Pepper - Chili Pepper - Potato

Question 27

Tomato

Answer 27

- 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

Question 28

Datura

Answer 28

- Deadly nightshade - Tropane Alkaloids - Poisonous - Caused fear in some cultures of eating other nightshades like tomatoes

Question 29

Eggplant

Answer 29

- Solanum melogena

Question 30

Bell pepper and chili pepper

Answer 30

- Capsicum spp. | - Solanaceae family

Question 31

Potato, family and where from?

Answer 31

- Solanaceae family - Solanum tuberosum - Scientifically described in Europe in 1596 - Native to Andes, SA (Peru, Bolivia, Chile) - Staple food on the Altiplano

Question 32

How big is the Solanum genus? How many make tubers like potato?

Answer 32

- Over 2000 plus species | - Approx. 200 make tubers

Question 33

Potato is a popular crop, what number is it in world crop tonnage?

Answer 33

- 5th highest by tonnage in world production

Question 34

How many varieties of potato are there at the International Potato Centre in Peru?

Answer 34

- Approx. 5000 varieties of Potato

Question 35

How many varieties of potato can one Andean village cultivate?

Answer 35

- 10 plus varieties

Question 36

Solanine

Answer 36

- 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

Question 37

Geophagy

Answer 37

- 'Earth eating' - Eat clay to bind to toxins and remove from digestive system - Used to combat Solanine in potatoes

Question 38

Why are potatoes a top crop and eaten in many places?

Answer 38

- Lots of starch makes potatoes a good food source | - Nutritious, can survive on them (i.e. The Martian)

Question 39

What is an advantage of tuber crops?

Answer 39

- They can get big underground | - Means lots of food from starches

Question 40

When did potato cultivation spread across Europe?

Answer 40

- After the Spanish brought it over - Spread slowly - Same concerns about edibility as tomato (i.e. nightshades have some poisonous species)

Question 41

When did potatoes become an important food source and why?

Answer 41

- 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

Question 42

History of potato cultivation, major industry developments

Answer 42

- 1840's, German chemist identified nitrogen as necessity for plant growth - Imported Peruvian seabird guano for fertilizer - 1st big industry in intensive crop fertilization

Question 43

European potato blight

Answer 43

- 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

Question 44

Great Irish Potato Famine

Answer 44

- 1847 | - Million people died of starvation w/in a few years b/c of destruction of potato crop by potato blight

Question 45

Potato bug

Answer 45

- Beetle - Arrived in Colorado in 1860's - Massive infestations - Solution was using arsenic and copper - Led to birth of chemical pesticide industry

Question 46

3 developments potato farming led to

Answer 46

- Intensive crop fertilization - Monoculture farming - Birth of chemical pesticide industry