Vegetables:
Any herbaceous plant or part of a plant that can be eaten
either raw or cooked is termed as vegetable. Vegetable contain more starch than
sugar unlike fruits and hence, they are extensively used in savoury dishes.
Vegetables can be used in various forms such as fresh, frozen, cooked, mashed,
dried, and dehydrated. Vegetables have water soluble vitamins such as B and C,
and fat soluble vitamins such as A,D,E, and K also contain minerals and
carbohydrates. Vegetables have high content of water ranging from 70%-95%.
Classification:
Vegetables can be broadly classified into two categories such
as
1) Below ground and 2) Above ground
Which can be further classified –
1) Below ground:
a. Roots: carrots, radish, beetroot.
b. Tubers: potato, sweet potato,
colocasia.
c. Bulbs: onion, garlic, shallots,
leeks.
2) Above ground:
a) Stems/shoots: celery, rhubarb,
seakale, asparagus, bamboo.
b) Leaves: lettuce, spinach, cabbage.
c) Flowers: cauliflower, broccoli.
d) Fruits: cucumber, eggplant, pumpkin.
e) Seeds/pods: green peas, snow peas.
f) Fungus/fungi: button mushrooms,
shiitake, porcini. (technically not a vegetable)
Pigments and colour changes:
Pigment is the colouring matter within the cells and tissues
of the plant. It is important for chefs to know the various kinds of pigments
present in food and how they react to heat and various acidic and alkaline
medium, as this would largely impact the style of cooking them. The various
types of pigments are affected differently by heat, acid, alkali and other
elements involved in cooking.
Effects on the
pigments of vegetables
Name of the pigment
|
colour
|
Vegetable example
|
Effect of acid
|
Effect of alkali
|
Effect of prolong cooking
|
Flavones
|
White
|
Radish
|
White bright
|
Dirty white
|
Greyish
|
Anthocyanins
|
Red/purple
|
Beetroot
|
Bright red
|
Blue
|
Greenish
|
Chlorophyll
|
Green
|
Spinach
|
Olive/fade
|
Bright
|
Faded
|
Carotene
|
Yellow/orange
|
Carrot
|
No change
|
No change
|
faded
|
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