General characteristics

A vegetable is a product coming from the garden which, used in the nutrition, it can make a good amount of vitamins, minerals, essential oils and enzymes which are important for the health. Depending on the part used in food, vegetables are divided into:

Fruiting vegetables: cucumber, zucchini, pumpkin, peppers, eggplant, tomatoes;

Flower vegetables: artichoke (rich source of iron and vitamin C), cauliflower, broccoli;

Seed vegetables: legumes (beans, peas, fava beans, chickpea, grass pea, lupine) rich in starch and protein;

Leafy vegetables: lettuce, radish, endive, borage, spinach, arugula, catalonia, cabbage, chard;

Stem vegetables: celery, fennel, thistle and asparagus which grows wild in the spring;

Root vegetables: radish, carrot, parsnip, beetroot, turnip, swede;

Tuber vegetables: potatoes, Jerusalem artichokes;

Bulb vegetables: onion, garlic, shallot, leek, spring onion.

After harvesting, the vegetables suffer a loss of vitamins, even if the storage is refrigerated, due to the interruption of their metabolic activity: this decrease is proportional to the elapsed time between harvesting and consumption.

Cooking

The vegetables can be cooked in different way: boiling vapor, fried, grilled with gratin in oven, under vacuum at low temperature, Double boiler