Parsely
Parsley or garden parsley (Petroselinum crispum) is a species of flowering plant in the family Apiaceae, native to the central Mediterranean region (southern Italy, Greece, Portugal, Spain, Malta, Morocco, Algeria, and Tunisia), naturalized elsewhere in Europe, and widely cultivated as a herb, a spice, and a vegetable.
Where it grows as a biennial, in the first year, it forms a rosette of tripinnate leaves 10–25 cm (3.9–9.8 in) long with numerous 1–3 cm (0.4–1.2 in) leaflets, and a taproot used as a food store over the winter.
Parsley is widely used in European, Middle Eastern, and American cooking. Curly leaf parsley is often used as a garnish. In central Europe, eastern Europe and southern Europe, as well as in western Asia, many dishes are served with fresh green chopped parsley sprinkled on top. Root parsley is very common in central, eastern and southern European cuisines, where it is used as a snack or a vegetable in many soups, stews, and casseroles.
Parsley grows best in moist, well-drained soil, with full sun. It grows best between 22–30 °C (72–86 °F), and usually is grown from seed. Germination is slow,
taking four to six weeks, and it often is difficult because of furanocoumarins in its seed coat. Typically, plants grown for the leaf crop are spaced 10 cm apart, while those grown as a root crop are spaced 20 cm apart to allow for the root development.
Parsley attracts several species of wildlife. Some swallowtail butterflies use parsley as a host plant for their larvae; their caterpillars are black and green striped with yellow dots, and will feed on parsley for two weeks before turning into butterflies. Bees and other nectar-feeding insects also visit the flowers. Birds such as the goldfinch feed on the seeds.
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Bean Sprout
Bean sprouts are a common ingredient across the world. They are particularly common in Eastern Asian cuisine, made from sprouting beans.
There are two types of common bean sprouts:
Mung bean sprout is made from the greenish-capped mung beans.Soybean sprout is made from yellow, larger-grained soybean.
It typically takes one week for them to be completely grown. The sprouted beans are more nutritious than the original beans and they require much less cooking time.
Bean sprouts can be microwaved, or stir fried. They may also be used as an ingredient, e.g., for spring rolls before applying heat.
In Chinese cuisine, common dishes that may use bean sprouts, known as Dòu Yá (“豆芽”), are fried rice, spring rolls, egg drop soup, and hot and sour soup. They are used in Vietnamese cuisine as well.
In Korean cuisine, Soy bean sprouts ‘Kongnamul’ (콩나물) are more commonly used than Mung bean sprouts ‘Sukjunamul’ (숙주나물). And it is one of the staple ingredients for Namul and key ingredients for many Korean soups including Yukgaejang, and stir-fries such as japchae.
In Japanese cuisine moyashi (もやし) refers to, in a strict sense, the mung sprout. The soy sprouts are known as mame-moyashi (豆萌やし,糵). Bean sprouts are a common ingredient in many Japanese dishes such as stir fries and soups.
In Nepali culture, Kwati is especially prepared in a festival of “Janai Purnima” which normally falls in the month of August. Stew of Kwati is prepared by frying and mixing onion, garlic, ginger, potatoes, spices and the sprouts. Lots of variation exist from house to house but is basically about making the stew of Kwati. It is considered as a nutritious food in Nepal. The so prepared Kwati is normally eaten with rice. Sometimes meats (esp. fried goat meat) are also added to spice up the Kwati.
They are used in Thai cuisine, usually eaten in soups and stir-fried dishes. In Phad Thai they are often added in to the pan for one quick stir before serving and in soups such as Nam ngiao they are sprinkled on top of the dish.
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Taro
Taro (/ˈtɑːroʊ, ˈtæroʊ/) commonly refers to the plant Colocasia esculenta, the most widely cultivated species of several plants in the Araceae family which are used as vegetables for their corms, leaves, and petioles. Thus, this article describes the “dasheen” form of taro; another variety of taro is known as eddoe or Colocasia antiquorum. Other species of taro include giant taro (Alocasia macrorrhizos), swamp taro (Cyrtosperma merkusii), and arrowleaf elephant’s ear (Xanthosoma sagittifolium).
Colocasia esculenta is thought to be native to Southern India and Southeast Asia, but is widely naturalised. It is a perennial, tropical plant primarily grown as a root vegetable for its edible starchy corm, and as a leaf vegetable. It is a food staple in African, Oceanic and South Indian cultures and is believed to have been one of the earliest cultivated plants. Colocasia is thought to have originated in the Indomalaya ecozone, perhaps in East India, Nepal, and Bangladesh, and spread by cultivation eastward into Southeast Asia, East Asia and the Pacific Islands; westward to Egypt and the eastern Mediterranean Basin; and then southward and westward from there into East Africa and West Africa, where it spread to the Caribbean and Americas. It is known by many local names and often referred to as “elephant ears” when grown as an ornamental plant.
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Thai Sawtooth Coriander
Sawtooth Coriander (Eryngium foetidum) also called Thai Coriander, or Pointed Cilantro, Cilentro, Culantro, Thorny Coriander, Ngo Gai, Mexican Coriander, Phak Chee Farang, Daunketumbar Jawa, Chinese Coriander, and Long Leafed Coriander. It belongs to the Apiaceae, like the species listed above; is a biennial to 30-50cm, propagated by seed, sprinkled on top of the soil. Large oblong leaves form as a rosette.
The edge of the leaves are prominently serrated, hence its name, sawtooth coriander. Spiky erect green flower heads form from the centre of the plant, and little raised oval seed heads form in the centre, turning from yellow to brown when mature. If you like the flavour of coriander but have trouble growing the annual species, then sawtooth coriander will give you pleasure to grow and use. The smell and taste is very similar. Sawtooth coriander leaves have good potential for drying as it does retain flavour whereas the annual coriander does not keep its flavour when dried.
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Thai Baby Asparagus
Asparagus, or garden asparagus, scientific name Asparagus officinalis, is a spring vegetable, a flowering perennial plant species in the genus Asparagus.
It was once classified in the lily family, like the related Allium species, onions and garlic, but the Liliaceae have been split and the onion-like plants are now in the family Amaryllidaceae and asparagus in the Asparagaceae. Asparagus officinalis is native to most of Europe, northern Africa and western Asia, and is widely cultivated as a vegetable crop.
Asparagus is a herbaceous, perennial plant growing to 100–150 cm (39–59 in) tall, with stout stems with much-branched, feathery foliage. The “leaves” are in fact needle-like cladodes (modified stems) in the axils of scale leaves; they are 6–32 mm (0.24–1.26 in) long and 1 mm (0.039 in) broad, and clustered four to 15 together, in a rose-like shape. The root system is adventitious and the root type is fasciculated. The flowers are bell-shaped, greenish-white to yellowish, 4.5–6.5 mm (0.18–0.26 in) long, with six tepals partially fused together at the base; they are produced singly or in clusters of two or three in the junctions of the branchlets. It is usually dioecious, with male and female flowers on separate plants, but sometimes hermaphrodite flowers are found. The fruit is a small red berry 6–10 mm diameter, which is poisonous to humans.
Plants native to the western coasts of Europe (from northern Spain north to Ireland, Great Britain, and northwest Germany) are treated as Asparagus officinalis subsp. prostratus (Dumort.) Corb., distinguished by its low-growing, often prostrate stems growing to only 30–70 cm (12–28 in) high, and shorter cladodes 2–18 mm (0.079–0.709 in) long. It is treated as a distinct species, Asparagus prostratus Dumort, by some authors.
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Asparagus
Asparagus, or garden asparagus, scientific name Asparagus officinalis, is a spring vegetable, a flowering perennial plant species in the genus Asparagus.
It was once classified in the lily family, like the related Allium species, onions and garlic, but the Liliaceae have been split and the onion-like plants are now in the family Amaryllidaceae and asparagus in the Asparagaceae. Asparagus officinalis is native to most of Europe, northern Africa and western Asia, and is widely cultivated as a vegetable crop.
Asparagus is a herbaceous, perennial plant growing to 100–150 cm (39–59 in) tall, with stout stems with much-branched, feathery foliage. The “leaves” are in fact needle-like cladodes (modified stems) in the axils of scale leaves; they are 6–32 mm (0.24–1.26 in) long and 1 mm (0.039 in) broad, and clustered four to 15 together, in a rose-like shape. The root system is adventitious and the root type is fasciculated. The flowers are bell-shaped, greenish-white to yellowish, 4.5–6.5 mm (0.18–0.26 in) long, with six tepals partially fused together at the base; they are produced singly or in clusters of two or three in the junctions of the branchlets. It is usually dioecious, with male and female flowers on separate plants, but sometimes hermaphrodite flowers are found. The fruit is a small red berry 6–10 mm diameter, which is poisonous to humans.
Plants native to the western coasts of Europe (from northern Spain north to Ireland, Great Britain, and northwest Germany) are treated as Asparagus officinalis subsp. prostratus (Dumort.) Corb., distinguished by its low-growing, often prostrate stems growing to only 30–70 cm (12–28 in) high, and shorter cladodes 2–18 mm (0.079–0.709 in) long. It is treated as a distinct species, Asparagus prostratus Dumort, by some authors.
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Peeled Shallots
Shallots probably originated in Central or Southwest Asia, travelling from there to India and the eastern Mediterranean. The name “shallot” comes from Ashkelon, an ancient Canaanite city, where people in classical Greek times believed shallots originated.
Indian names for shallots include kaanda or gandana or pyaaz (Hindi, Marathi, Marwari and Punjabi), gundhun (Bengali), cheriya ulli or chuvanna ulli (Malayalam), ଉଲ୍ଲି ପିଆଜ (ulli piaja in Odia), chinna ullipayi (Telugu) and chinna vengayam (or sambar vengayam in the Chennai region) (Tamil). In the Kashmiri language, shallots are called praan. In Nepal, shallots are called chyapi (छ्यापी).
In Southeastern Asia, shallots are called bawang merah kecil (small red onions) in Malay, brambang in Java, sibuyas bombay (Indian onion) in the Philippines (in contrast with sibuyas Tagalog, the larger, red onion), and hom (หอม, fragrant) in Thai. In Cambodian (Khmer), shallots are called katem kror hom, where katem or ktem is a species of onion, and kror hom or hom meaning “red”, describes their colour.
The name shallot is also used for the Persian shallot (A. stipitatum), from the Zagros Mountains in Iran and Iraq. The term shallot is further used for the French red shallot (Allium cepa var. aggregatum, or the A. cepa Aggregatum Group) and the French gray shallot or griselle (Allium oschaninii), a species referred to as “true shallot”; it grows wild from Central to Southwest Asia. The name shallot is also used for a scallion in New Orleans while the term French shallot refers to the plant referred to on this page.
The term eschalot, derived from the French word échalote, can also be used to refer to the shallot. The usage of green onion for shallot is found among English-speaking people in Quebec; but when shallot is used, stress is on the second syllable.
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Thai Egg Plant
Thai eggplant (Thai: มะเขือ, rtgs: makhuea) is the name for several varieties of eggplant used in Southeast Asian cuisines, most often of the eggplant species Solanum melongena. They are also cultivated in Sri Lanka and feature in Sri Lankan cuisine. These golf ball sized eggplants are commonly used in Thai cuisine. Some of the cultivars in Thailand are Thai Purple, Thai Green, Thai Yellow, and Thai White.
The green-white varieties of Thai eggplants are essential ingredients in Thai curry dishes such as in kaeng tai pla, green and red curry. They are often halved or quartered, but can also be used whole, and cooked in the curry sauce where they become softer and absorb the flavor of the sauce. They are also eaten raw in Thai salads or with Thai chili pastes (nam phrik). Sometimes, in Thai restaurants outside of Thailand, Thai eggplants are replaced by locally available eggplants.
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Taiwan Sweet Potato
The sweet potato (Ipomoea batatas) is a dicotyledonous plant that belongs to the family Convolvulaceae. Its large, starchy, sweet-tasting, tuberous roots are a root vegetable. The young leaves and shoots are sometimes eaten as greens. The sweet potato is only distantly related to the potato (Solanum tuberosum) and does not belong to the nightshade family, Solanaceae, but both families belong to the same taxonomic order, the Solanales.
The plant is a herbaceous perennial vine, bearing alternate heart-shaped or palmately lobed leaves and medium-sized sympetalous flowers. The edible tuberous root is long and tapered, with a smooth skin whose color ranges between yellow, orange, red, brown, purple, and beige. Its flesh ranges from beige through white, red, pink, violet, yellow, orange, and purple. Sweet potato cultivars with white or pale yellow flesh are less sweet and moist than those with red, pink or orange flesh.
Ipomoea batatas is native to the tropical regions in the Americas. Of the approximately 50 genera and more than 1,000 species of Convolvulaceae, I. batatas is the only crop plant of major importance—some others are used locally (e.g. I. aquatica “kangkong”), but many are poisonous. The genus Ipomoea that contains the sweet potato also includes several garden flowers called morning glories, though that term is not usually extended to Ipomoea batatas. Some cultivars of Ipomoea batatas are grown as ornamental plants under the name tuberous morning glory, used in a horticultural context.
Sweet potatoes are cultivated throughout tropical and warm temperate regions wherever there is sufficient water to support their growth. Due to a major crop failure, sweet potatoes were introduced to Fujian province of China in about 1594 from Luzon. The growing of sweet potatoes was encouraged by the Governor Chin Hsüeh-tseng (Jin Xuezeng). Sweet potatoes were introduced as a food crop in Japan, and by 1735 was planted in Shogun Tokugawa Yoshimune’s private garden. It was also introduced to Korea in 1764.
Sweet potatoes became popular very early in the islands of the Pacific Ocean, spreading from Polynesia to Japan and the Philippines. One reason[original research?] is that they were a reliable crop in cases of crop failure of other staple foods because of typhoon flooding. They are featured in many favorite dishes in Japan, Taiwan, the Philippines, and other island nations. Indonesia, Vietnam, India, and some other Asian countries are also large sweet potato growers. Sweet potato, also known as kelang in Tulu, is part of Udupi cuisine in South India. Uganda (the second largest grower after China), Rwanda, and some other African countries also grow a large crop which is an important part of their peoples’ diets. The New World, the original home of the sweet potato, grows less than three percent (3%) of the world’s supply. Europe has only a very small sweet potato production, mainly in Portugal. In the Caribbean, a cultivar of the sweet potato called the boniato is popular. The flesh of the boniato is cream-colored, unlike the more popular orange hue seen in other cultivars. Boniatos are not as sweet and moist as other sweet potatoes, but many people prefer their fluffier consistency and more delicate flavor.
Sweet potatoes have been an important part of the diet in the United States for most of its history, especially in the Southeast. From the middle of the 20th century, however, they have become less popular. The average per capita consumption of sweet potatoes in the United States is only about 1.5–2 kg (3.3–4.4 lb) per year, down from 13 kg (29 lb) in 1920. Southerner Kent Wrench writes: “The Sweet Potato became associated with hard times in the minds of our ancestors and when they became affluent enough to change their menu, the potato was served less often.”
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Small Garlic
Garlic is widely used around the world for its pungent flavor as a seasoning or condiment. The garlic plant’s bulb is the most commonly used part of the plant. With the exception of the single clove types, garlic bulbs are normally divided into numerous fleshy sections called cloves. Garlic cloves are used for consumption (raw or cooked) or for medicinal purposes. They have a characteristic pungent, spicy flavor that mellows and sweetens considerably with cooking.
Other parts of the garlic plant are also edible. The leaves and flowers (bulbils) on the head (spathe) are sometimes eaten. They are milder in flavor than the bulbs, and are most often consumed while immature and still tender. Immature garlic is sometimes pulled, rather like a scallion, and sold as “green garlic”. When green garlic is allowed to grow past the “scallion” stage, but not permitted to fully mature, it may produce a garlic “round”, a bulb like a boiling onion, but not separated into cloves like a mature bulb. It imparts a garlic flavor and aroma in food, minus the spiciness. Green garlic is often chopped and stir-fried or cooked in soup or hotpot in Southeast Asian (i.e. Vietnamese, Thai, Lao, Cambodian, Singaporean) and Chinese cookery, and is very abundant and low-priced. Additionally, the immature flower stalks (scapes) of the hardneck and elephant types are sometimes marketed for uses similar to asparagus in stir-fries.
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Red / Green Chili
Bird’s eye chili, bird eye chili, bird’s chili, chile de arbol, or Thai chili is a chili pepper, a cultivar from the species Capsicum annuum, commonly found in Ethiopia and Southeast Asia. It is often confused with a similar-looking chili derived from the species Capsicum frutescens, the cultivar “siling labuyo”. Capsicum frutescens are generally smaller and characteristically point to the sky. Bird’s eye chili can also be found in India, particularly in Mizoram, Meghalaya, Assam, and Kerala. It is used in traditional dishes of the Kerala cuisine. This cultivar is also found in rural areas of Sri Lanka (known as කොච්චි (kōcci) ), where it is used as a substitute for green chilis. It is also a main ingredient in kochchi sambal, a salad made using freshly scraped coconut ground with bird’s eye chilis and seasoned with salt and lime juice. It is used extensively in Thai, Malaysian, Singaporean, Lao, Khmer, Indonesian, and Vietnamese cuisine. Some English speakers also refer to this cultivar as Thai hot, Thai dragon, and boonie pepper.
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Petai
Parkia speciosa (petai, Indonesia: pete, Manipuri:Yongchak Thai: สะตอ (sataw, sator, sadtor, sa-dtor), English: bitter bean, twisted cluster bean or stink bean) is a plant of the genus Parkia in the family Fabaceae. It bears long, flat edible beans with bright green seeds the size and shape of plump almonds which have a rather peculiar smell, similar to (but stronger than) that of the Shiitake mushroom, characterised by some as being similar to natural gas.
The beans or other Parkia species (Parkia javanica and Parkia singalaris for example) are popular as culinary ingredient in Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Laos, southern Thailand, Burma, and northeastern India specially Manipur, and are sold in bunches, still in the pod, or the seeds are sold in plastic bags. Pods are gathered from the wild, or from cultivated trees: they are exported in jars or cans, pickled in brine, or frozen.
It is known as petai, pete in Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore. In marketplace, depending on the country of origin Parkia species may be labelled wakerec, petai, yongchak, in Zomi Zawngtah (pronounced Zongtah). They are best when combined with other strongly flavoured foods such as garlic, chili peppers, dried shrimp or shrimp paste, as in sambal petai. When young the pods are flat because the seeds have not yet developed, and they hang like a bunch of slightly twisted ribbons, pale green, almost translucent. At this stage they may be eaten raw, fried or pickled. Young tender pods with undeveloped beans can be used whole in stir-fried dishes.
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Peppermint
Peppermint (Mentha × piperita, also known as Mentha balsamea Willd.) is a hybrid mint, a cross between watermint and spearmint. Indigenous to Europe and the Middle East, the plant is now widespread in cultivation in many regions of the world. It is occasionally found in the wild with its parent species.
Peppermint was first described in 1753 by Carl Linnaeus from specimens that had been collected in England; he treated it as a species, but it is now universally agreed to be a hybrid. It is a herbaceous rhizomatous perennial plant that grows to be 30–90 cm (12–35 in) tall, with smooth stems, square in cross section. The rhizomes are wide-spreading, fleshy, and bare fibrous roots. The leaves can be 4–9 cm (1.6–3.5 in) long and 1.5–4 cm (0.59–1.57 in) broad. They are dark green with reddish veins, and they have an acute apex and coarsely toothed margins. The leaves and stems are usually slightly fuzzy. The flowers are purple, 6–8 mm (0.24–0.31 in) long, with a four-lobed corolla about 5 mm (0.20 in) diameter; they are produced in whorls (verticillasters) around the stem, forming thick, blunt spikes. Flowering season lasts from mid to late summer. The chromosome number is variable, 
with 2n counts of 66, 72, 84, and 120 recorded. Peppermint is a fast-growing plant; once it sprouts, it spreads very quickly. Peppermint typically occurs in moist habitats, including stream sides and drainage ditches. Being a hybrid, it is usually sterile, producing no seeds and reproducing only vegetatively, spreading by its rhizomes. If placed, it can grow anywhere, with a few exceptions. Outside of its native range, areas where peppermint was formerly grown for oil often have an abundance of feral plants, and it is considered invasive in Australia, the Galápagos Islands, New Zealand, and in the United States in the Great Lakes region, noted since 1843.
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Watercress
Watercress is an aquatic plant species with the botanical name Nasturtium officinale. This should not be confused with the quite different group of plants with the common name of nasturtium, botanical name Tropaeolum.
Watercress is a rapidly growing, aquatic or semi-aquatic, perennial plant native to Europe and Asia, and one of the oldest known leaf vegetables consumed by humans. It is a member of the family Brassicaceae, botanically related to garden cress, mustard, radish and wasabi—all noteworthy for their piquant flavor.
The hollow stems of watercress will float; the leaf structure is pinnately compound. Small, white and green flowers are produced in clusters and are frequently visited by insects, especially hoverflies such as Eristalis flies.
Cultivation of watercress is practical on both a large-scale and a garden-scale. Being semi-aquatic, watercress is well-suited to hydroponic cultivation, thriving best in water that is slightly alkaline. It is frequently produced around the headwaters of chalk streams. In many local markets, the demand for hydroponically grown watercress exceeds supply, partly because cress leaves are unsuitable for distribution in dried form, and can only be stored fresh for a short period.
Watercress can be sold in supermarkets in sealed plastic bags, containing a little moisture and lightly pressurised to prevent crushing of contents. This has allowed national availability with a once-purchased storage life of one to two days in chilled/refrigerated storage.
Also sold as sprouts, the edible shoots are harvested days after germination. If unharvested, watercress can grow to a height of 50 to 120 centimetres ( 1 1⁄2–4 ft). Like many plants in this family, the foliage of watercress becomes bitter when the plants begin producing flowers.
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Old/Young Ginger
Ginger is known to have more than twelve types of antioxidants, making it useful for treatment of many disorders. Like other spices, it has anti-inflammatory properties and is used widely for medicinal purposes.
This herb contains essential oils, protein, calcium, phosphorus, iron, vitamin C, choline, folic acid, inositol, manganese, panthotenic acid, silicon, and a small amount of vitamin B3.
Ginger root is widely used in Asian cultures. In Japan, fresh young ginger is pickled to be eaten as condiments with all their meals. The outstanding phytonutrient in ginger root in its spicy substance called gingerol. In old ginger, this nutrient is more concentrated and richer.
COMPARING THE YOUNG AND OLD GINGER ROOT
Young ginger is fragrant, pungent, fleshy and juicy with a mild spicy taste. Whereas old ginger is fibrous and almost dry and tends to be spicier than its young counterpart.
A recent study showed that young ginger brings down body temperature as in the case of fever. Whereas the old (dryer) ginger brings up the body temperature as in the case of a cold and suitable during winter. When going on an extended juice feasting, I recommend the use of old ginger for this reason.
OLD ginger root tends to increase body temperature.
When to use old ginger:
-If you tend to feel cold most of the time, as in the case of people with hypothyroidism.
-When doing juice fasting, you need some body heat.
-During winter, to heat up your body
YOUNG ginger root tends to lower body temperature.
When to use young ginger:
-If you tend to feel warm most of the time, as in the case of people with hyperthyroidism
-When having a fever.
-During summer.
Ginger root is an amazing herb and should be included in most of your juices, not only for taste, but for its myriad health benefits.
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Lettuce
Lettuce (Lactuca sativa) is an annual plant of the daisy family, Asteraceae. It is most often grown as a leaf vegetable, but sometimes for its stem and seeds. Lettuce is most often used for salads, although it is also seen in other kinds of food, such as soups, sandwiches and wraps; it can also be grilled. One variety, the woju (莴苣), or asparagus lettuce (celtuce), is grown for its stems, which are eaten either raw or cooked. In addition to its main use as a leafy green, it has also gathered religious and medicinal significance over centuries of human consumption. Europe and North America originally dominated the market for lettuce, but by the late 20th century the consumption of lettuce had spread throughout the world. World production of lettuce and chicory for calendar year 2013 was 24.9 million tonnes, over half of which came from China.
Lettuce was first cultivated by the ancient Egyptians who turned it from a weed whose seeds were used to produce oil, into a food plant grown for its succulent leaves and oil-rich seeds. Lettuce spread to the Greeks and Romans, the latter of whom gave it the name lactuca, from which the English lettuce is ultimately derived. By 50 AD, many types were described, and lettuce appeared often in medieval writings, including several herbals. The
16th through 18th centuries saw the development of many varieties in Europe, and by the mid-18th century cultivars were described that can still be found in gardens.
Generally grown as a hardy annual, lettuce is easily cultivated, although it requires relatively low temperatures to prevent it from flowering quickly. It can be plagued by numerous nutrient deficiencies, as well as insect and mammal pests, and fungal and bacterial diseases. L. sativa crosses easily within the species and with some other species within the Lactuca genus. Although this trait can be a problem to home gardeners who attempt to save seeds, biologists have used it to broaden the gene pool of cultivated lettuce varieties.
Lettuce is a rich source of vitamin K and vitamin A, and a moderate source of folate and iron. Contaminated lettuce is often a source of bacterial, viral and parasitic outbreaks in humans, including E. coli and Salmonella.
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Kenya Beans
Beans farming in Kenya has received a boost after researchers at Kenya Agricultural Research Institute (KARI) developed a new bean variety that is high yielding, thrives in areas with low rainfall and is resistant to pest and diseases.The new bean variety produces about 20 pods a plant and an acre gives a yield of 25 bags compared to 20 bags from the other bean varieties. The bean takes 90 – 95 days to mature and is resistant to common bean plant disease.
Farmers however will have to wait a little while as only a few farmers are planting the bean on trial basis but soon KARI will release the variety for mass production to seed companies for sale.This is another milestone in ensuring food security in Kenya as a recent report by UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) indicated that food prices will go up in the next ten years but increased productivity per acre will meet the demand.
In addition, farmers who have consumed the bean say it is both very palatable and a good quality produce. Beans grow with little care, produce an abundance of pods, and can add nitrogen to the soil, making them ideal plants for organic vegetable gardens.
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Kaffir Lime Leaves
Kaffir Lime leaves are a member of the citrus family responsible for the distinctive lime-lemon aroma and flavour that are an indispensable part of Thai and, to a lesser extent, Indonesian cooking. The leaves of the kaffir lime tree are a dark green color with a glossy sheen. They come in two parts: the top leaflet is lightly pointed at its tip and is attached to another leaflet beneath that is broader on its upper edge. The size of the leaves can vary quite a bit, from less than an inch to several inches long.
The fruit is dark green and round, with a distinct nipple on the stem end. It has a thick rind, knobby and wrinkled, and one of its common names is ‘porcupine orange’. As the fruit becomes older, the color fades to a lighter, yellowish green. Though the juice is infrequently use in cooking, the zest of the rind is often used for making curry pastes.
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Kaffir Lime
The kaffir lime (Citrus hystrix), sometimes referred to in English as the makrut lime or Mauritius papeda, is a citrus fruit native to tropical Asia.
including India, Nepal, Bangladesh, Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia, and the Philippines. Its fruit and leaves are used in Southeast Asian cuisine and its essential oil is used in perfumery. Its rind and crushed leaves emit an intense citrus fragrance.The leaves are the most frequently used part of the plant, fresh, dried, or frozen. The leaves are widely used in Thai and Lao cuisine (for dishes such as tom yum) and Cambodian cuisine (for the base paste “krueng”). The leaves are used in Vietnamese cuisine to add fragrance to chicken dishes and to decrease the pungent odor when steaming snails. The leaves are used in Indonesian cuisine (especially Balinese cuisine and Javanese cuisine) for foods such as soto ayam and are used along with Indonesian bay leaf for chicken and fish. They are also found in Malaysian and Burmese cuisines It is used widely in South Indian cuisine.
The rind (peel) is commonly used in Lao and Thai curry paste, adding an aromatic, astringent flavor. The zest of the fruit, referred to as combava[citation needed], is used in creole cuisine to impart flavor in infused rums and rougails in Martinique, Réunion, and Madagascar. In Cambodia, the entire fruit is crystallized/candied for eating.
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Japanese Sweet Potato
The Japanese Sweet Potato (“Satsumaimo”) is packed full of goodness containing the dietary fiber and vitamin C that may be your secret for dieting to lose weight just by eating healthy. Just when you thought eating carbohydrate foods was going to make you fat, there is hope in the Satsuma-Imo diet.
The Japanese sweet potato is a low calorie food (Calories in sweet potato: 264Cal / 1 item) that not only helps satisfy your appetite but contains high nutritional value that you can expect is going to make surface in your diet sooner or later. All you have to do is replace 1 meal a day with a healthy helping of Japanese sweet potatoes to reduce calories without giving up on nutrition.
Even if you are eating 3 meals a day The Japanese Sweet Potato Diet helps you cut back on calories in your diet without giving up on healthy eating and skin care benefits in your food making it reasonable for anyone to succeed in dieting.
In this daily Slism, we will introduce to you how to diet on the Japanese sweet potato to reduce calorie intake getting all the nutrition, dietary fiber and vitamin C, you need to increase your chances to lose weight successfully just by eating right adding to your healthy eating weapons to get slim.
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Japanese Pumpkin
Kabocha (/kəˈboʊtʃə/; from Japanese カボチャ, 南瓜) is a type of winter squash, a Japanese variety of the species
Cucurbita maxima. It is also called kabocha squash in North America. In Japan, “kabocha” may refer to either this squash or to the Western pumpkin. It has a strong yet sweet flavor and moist, fluffy texture like chestnuts.
Many of the kabocha in the market are kuri kabocha, a type created from seiyo kabocha (buttercup squash). Varieties of kabocha include Ajihei, Ajihei No. 107, Ajihei No. 331, Ajihei No. 335, Cutie, Ebisu, Emiguri, and Miyako.
Kabocha is hard on the outside with knobbly-looking skin. It is shaped like a squat pumpkin and has a dull-finished, deep-green skin with some celadon-to-white stripes and an intense yellow-orange color on the inside. In many respects it is similar to buttercup squash, but without the characteristic protruding “cup” on the blossom (bottom) end. An average kabocha weighs 2-3 pounds, but a large specimen can weigh as much as 8 pounds.
Kabocha has an exceptional sweet flavor, even sweeter than butternut squash. It is similar in texture and flavor to a pumpkin and sweet potato combined. Some kabocha can taste like Russet potatoes. The rind is edible although some cooks may peel it to speed up the cooking process or to suit their personal taste preferences. Kabocha is commonly utilized in side dishes and soups, or as a substitute for potato or other squash varieties. It can be roasted after cutting the squash in half, scooping out the inside rind and seeds, and then cutting the squash into wedges. A little olive oil and seasoning and it can be baked in the oven.
In Japan, kabocha is a common ingredient in vegetable tempura and is also made into soup. Fak thong (Thai: ฟักทอง) is used in traditional Thai desserts and main courses. Kabocha is used in Jamaican chicken foot soup. Danhobak (Korean: 단호박) is commonly used for a traditional Korean porridge called hobakjuk (호박죽), which is mainly eaten during autumn and winter. Hobakjuk in the west is more likely to contain pumpkin than kabocha. Shown on the right, kabocha is a common ingredient in tempura
Kabocha is available all year but is best in late summer and early fall. Kabocha is primarily grown in Japan, South Korea, Thailand, California, Florida, Hawaii, Southwestern Colorado, Mexico, Tasmania, Tonga, New Zealand, Chile, Jamaica, and South Africa, but is widely adapted for climates that provide a growing season of 100 days or more. Most of the kabocha grown in California, Colorado, Tonga and New Zealand is actually exported to Japan.
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French Bean
Green beans are the unripe, young fruit and protective pods of various cultivars of the common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris). Immature or young pods of the runner bean (Phaseolus coccineus), yardlong bean (Vigna unguiculata subsp. sesquipedalis), and hyacinth bean (Lablab purpureus), are used in a similar way. Green beans are known by many common names, including French beans, string beans, snap beans, and snaps.
They are distinguished from the many differing varieties of beans in that green beans are harvested and consumed with their enclosing pods, typically before the seeds inside have fully matured. This practice is analogous to the harvesting of unripened pea pods as snow peas or sugar snap peas. In the past, bean pods often contained a “string”, a hard fibrous strand running the length of the pod. This was removed before cooking, or made edible by
cutting the pod into short segments. Modern, commercially grown green bean varieties lack strings.
Green beans are eaten around the world, and are marketed canned, frozen, and fresh. Green beans are often steamed, boiled, stir-fried, or baked in casseroles. A dish with green beans popular throughout the United States, particularly at Thanksgiving, is green bean casserole, which consists of green beans, cream of mushroom soup, and French fried onions. Some US restaurants serve green beans that are battered and fried, and some Japanese restaurants serve green bean tempura. Green beans are also sold dried, and fried with vegetables such as carrots, corn, and peas, as vegetable chips. The flavonol miquelianin (Quercetin 3-O-glucuronide) can be found in green beans.
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Enoki Mushroom
Enokitake (榎茸, エノキタケ, Japanese pronunciation: [enokitake], /ᵻˌnoʊkiˈtɑːkiː/), also Enokidake (榎茸, エノキダケ, Japanese pronunciation: [enokidake], /ᵻˌnoʊkiˈdɑːkiː/) or Enoki (榎, エノキ, Japanese pronunciation: [enoki], /ᵻˈnoʊki/), is a long, thin white mushroom used in East Asian cuisine (such as that of China, Japan, Vietnam and Korea). These mushrooms are cultivars of Flammulina velutipes, also known by the name golden needle mushroom or lily mushroom. Wild forms differing in color, texture, and sliminess are called names including seafood mushrooms, winter mushrooms or winter fungus, velvet foot, velvet stem or velvet shank.
This mushroom is available fresh or canned, with experts recommending fresh enoki specimens with firm, white, shiny caps, rather than those with slimy or brownish stalks that are best avoided.[citation needed] It is traditionally used for soups, but can also be used for salads and other dishes. The mushroom has a crisp texture and can be refrigerated for approximately one week. Enokitake mushrooms contain antioxidants, like ergothioneine. Animal testing has indicated possible applications in the development of vaccines and cancer immunotherapy.
Research at the National University of Singapore, first published in 2005, stated that the stalk of the golden needle mushroom contains a large quantity of a protein, named “Five”/”FIP-fve” by the researchers, that helps in the regulation of the immune system. The mushroom also contains flammutoxin, a cytolytic and cardiotoxic protein that has proven to be non-toxic when absorbed orally.
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Dill
Dill (Anethum graveolens) is an annual herb in the celery family Apiaceae. also called in /guajrati language as સુવાદાણા. It is the only species in the genus Anethum. Dill is widely grown in Eurasia where its leaves and seeds are used as a herb or spice for flavouring food.
Dill grows up to 40–60 cm (16–24 in), with slender hollow stems and alternate, finely divided, softly delicate leaves 10–20 cm (4–8 in) long. The ultimate leaf divisions are 1–2 mm (0.04–0.08 in) broad, slightly broader than the similar leaves of fennel, which are threadlike, less than 1 mm (0.04 in) broad, but harder in texture. The flowers are white to yellow, in small umbels 2–9 cm (0.8–3.5 in) diameter. The seeds are 4–5 mm (0.16–0.20 in) long and 1 mm (0.04 in) thick, and straight to slightly curved with a longitudinally ridged surface.
Fresh and dried dill leaves (sometimes called “dill weed” to distinguish it from dill seed) are widely used as herbs in Europe and central Asia.
Like caraway, the fernlike leaves of dill are aromatic and are used to flavor many foods such as gravlax (cured salmon) and other fish dishes, borscht and other soups, as well as pickles (where the dill flower is sometimes used). Dill is best when used fresh as it loses its flavor rapidly if dried; however, freeze-dried dill leaves retain their flavor relatively well for a few months. Dill seed, having a flavor similar to caraway but also resembling that of fresh or dried dill weed, is used as a spice. Dill oil is extracted from the leaves, stems and seeds of the plant. The oil from the seeds is distilled and used in the manufacturing of soaps. Dill is the eponymous ingredient in dill pickles: cucumbers preserved in salty brine and/or vinegar.
Reference.
Coriander
Coriander (UK /ˌkɒrɪˈændər/; US /ˈkɔːriˌændər/ or /ˌkɔːriˈændər/; Coriandrum sativum), also known as cilantro (/sɪˈlɑːntroʊ/) or Chinese parsley, is an annual herb in the family Apiaceae. All parts of the plant are edible, but the fresh leaves and the dried seeds are the parts most traditionally used in cooking.
Coriander is native to regions spanning from southern Europe and northern Africa to southwestern Asia. It is a soft plant growing to 50 cm (20 in) tall. The leaves are variable in shape, broadly lobed at the base of the plant, and slender and feathery higher on the flowering stems. The flowers are borne in small umbels, white or very pale pink, asymmetrical, with the petals pointing away from the center of the umbel longer (5–6 mm or 0.20–0.24 in) than those pointing toward it (only 1–3 mm or 0.039–0.118 in long). The fruit is a globular, dry schizocarp 3–5 mm (0.12–0.20 in) in diameter.
First attested in English in the late 14th century, the word “coriander” derives from the Old French: coriandre, which comes from Latin: coriandrum,[4] in turn from Ancient Greek: κορίαννον koriannon, derived from Ancient Greek: κόρις kóris (a bed bug), and was given on account of its foetid, bed bug-like smell. The earliest attested form of the word is the Mycenaean Greek ko-ri-ja-da-na[8] written in Linear B syllabic script (reconstructed as koriadnon, similar to the name of Minos’s daughter Ariadne) which later evolved to koriannon or koriandron.
Cilantro is the Spanish word for coriander, also deriving from coriandrum. It is the common term in North American English for coriander leaves, due to their extensive use in Mexican cuisine.
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Cherry Tomatoes
A cherry tomato is a rounded, small fruited tomato thought to be an intermediate genetic admixture between wild currant-type tomatoes and domesticated garden tomatoes. Cherry tomatoes range in size from a thumbtip up to the size of a golf ball, and can range from being spherical to slightly oblong in shape. Although usually red, other varieties such as yellow, green, and black also exist. The more oblong ones often share characteristics with plum tomatoes, and are known as grape tomatoes. The berry tomato is regarded as a botanical variety of the cultivated berry, Solanum lycopersicum var. cerasiforme.
The Tomaccio tomato was developed by several laboratories in Israel, the dominant ones being those led by Professor Nahum Keidar and Professor Chaim Rabinovitch from the Agriculture Faculty of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Rehovot Campus. The Tomaccio is the result of a 12-year breeding program using wild Peruvian tomato species to create a sweet snack tomato with an improved ripening time and shelf life. The Super Sweet 100 is a hybrid cultivar popular in the United States. It is resistant to both Fusarium and Verticillium wilt. The Selke Biodynamic cherry tomato is named after Margrit Selke
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Chives
Chives is the common name of Allium schoenoprasum, an edible species of the Allium genus.Its close relatives include the garlic, shallot, leek, scallion, and Chinese onion. A perennial plant, it is widespread in nature across much of Europe, Asia, and North America. schoenoprasum is the only species of Allium native to both the New and the Old Worlds.
The name of the species derives from the Greek σχοίνος, skhoínos (sedge) and πράσον, práson (leek). Its English name, chives, derives from the French word cive, from cepa, the Latin word for onion.
Chives are a commonly used herb and can be found in grocery stores or grown in home gardens. In culinary use, the scapes and the unopened, immature flower buds are diced and used as an ingredient for fish, potatoes, soups, and other dishes. Chives have insect-repelling properties that can be used in gardens to control pests.
Chives are a bulb-forming herbaceous perennial plant, growing to 30–50 cm (12–20 in) tall. The bulbs are slender, conical, 2–3 cm (3⁄4–1 1⁄4 in) long and 1 cm (1⁄2 in) broad, and grow in dense clusters from the roots. The scapes (or stems) are hollow and tubular, up to 50 cm (20 in) long and 2–3 mm (1⁄16–1⁄8 in) across, with a soft texture, although, prior to the emergence of a flower, they may appear stiffer than usual. The leaves, which are shorter than the scapes, are also hollow and tubular, or terete, (round in cross-section) which distinguishes it at a glance from garlic chives
(Allium tuberosum). The flowers are pale purple, and star-shaped with six petals, 1–2 cm (1⁄2–3⁄4 in) wide, and produced in a dense inflorescence of 10-30 together; before opening, the inflorescence is surrounded by a papery bract. The seeds are produced in a small, three-valved capsule, maturing in summer. The herb flowers from April to May in the southern parts of its habitat zones and in June in the northern parts.
Chives are the only species of Allium native to both the New and the Old Worlds. Sometimes, the plants found in North America are classified as A. schoenoprasum var. sibiricum, although this is disputed. Differences between specimens are significant. One example was found in northern Maine growing solitary, instead of in clumps, also exhibiting dingy grey flowers.
Although chives are repulsive to insects in general, due to their sulfur compounds, their flowers attract bees, and they are at times kept to increase desired insect life.
Preference.
Beetroot
The beetroot is the taproot portion of the beet plant, usually known in North America as the beet, also table beet, garden beet, red beet, or golden beet. It is one of several of the cultivated varieties of Beta vulgaris grown for their edible taproots and their leaves (called beet greens). These varieties have been classified as B. vulgaris subsp. vulgaris Conditiva Group.
Other than as a food, beets have use as a food colouring and as a medicinal plant. Many beet products are made from other Beta vulgaris varieties, particularly sugar beet.
Usually the deep purple roots of beetroot are eaten boiled, roasted or raw, and either alone or combined with any salad vegetable. A large proportion of the commercial production is processed into boiled and sterilized beets or into pickles. In Eastern Europe, beet soup, such as borscht, is a popular dish. In Indian cuisine, chopped, cooked, spiced beet is a common side dish. Yellow-coloured beetroots are grown on a very small scale for home consumption.
The green, leafy portion of the beet is also edible. The young leaves can be added raw to salads, whilst the adult leaves are most commonly served boiled or steamed, in which case they have a taste and texture similar to spinach. Those greens selected should be from bulbs that are unmarked, instead of those with overly limp leaves or wrinkled skins, both of which are signs of dehydration. The domestication of beets can be traced to the emergence of an allele which enables biennial harvesting of leaves and taproot.
Beetroot can be boiled or steamed, peeled and then eaten warm with or without butter as a delicacy; cooked, pickled, and then eaten cold as a condiment; or peeled, shredded raw, and then eaten as a salad. Pickled beets are a traditional food in many countries.
A traditional Pennsylvania Dutch dish is pickled beet egg. Hard-boiled eggs are refrigerated in the liquid left over from pickling beets and allowed to marinate until the eggs turn a deep pink-red colour.
In Poland and Ukraine, beet is combined with horseradish to form popular ćwikła, which is traditionally used with cold cuts and sandwiches, but often also added to a meal consisting of meat and potatoes. The same in Serbia where the popular cvekla is used as winter salad, seasoned with salt and vinegar, with meat dishes. As an addition to horseradish it is also used to produce the “red” variety of chrain, a popular condiment in Ashkenazi Jewish, Hungarian, Polish, Russian and Ukrainian cuisine.
Popular in Australian hamburgers, a slice of pickled beetroot is combined with other condiments on a beef patty to make an Aussie burger.
When beet juice is used, it is most stable in foods with a low water content, such as frozen novelties and fruit fillings. Betanins, obtained from the roots, are used industrially as red food colourants, e.g. to intensify the colour of tomato paste, sauces, desserts, jams and jellies, ice cream, sweets, and breakfast cereals. Beetroot can also be used to make wine. Food shortages in Europe following World War I caused great hardships, including cases of mangelwurzel disease, as relief workers called it. It was symptomatic of eating only beets.
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Basil Leaves
Basil UK /ˈbæzəl/; US /ˈbeɪzəl/ (Ocimum basilicum), also called great basil or Saint-Joseph’s-wort, is a culinary herb of the family Lamiaceae (mints). It is also called the “king of herbs” and the “royal herb”. The name “basil” comes from Greek βασιλικόν φυτόν (basilikón phutón), “royal/kingly plant”.
Basil is possibly native to India, and has been cultivated there for more than 5,000 years.It was thoroughly familiar to the Greek authors Theophrastus and Dioscorides. It is a tender plant, best known as a culinary herb prominently featured in Italian cuisine, and also plays a major role in Southeast Asian cuisines of Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia, Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, and Taiwan. Depending on the species and cultivar, the leaves may taste somewhat like anise, with a strong, pungent, often sweet smell.
There are many varieties of Ocimum basilicum, as well as several related species or species hybrids also called basil. The type used in Italian food is typically called sweet basil (or Genovese basil), as opposed to Thai basil (O. basilicum var. thyrsiflora), lemon basil (O. × citriodorum), and holy basil (Ocimum tenuiflorum), which are used in Asia. While most common varieties of basil are treated as annuals, some are perennial in warm, tropical climates, including holy basil and a cultivar known as “African blue basil”.
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Baby Cabbage
Dozens of varieties of Brussels sprouts exist today. They come in all sizes, from marble-sized button buds to golf ball-sized ones. Popular breeds include Bubbles, Prince Marvel and Oliver.
Brussels sprouts are an excellent source of vitamin A, vitamin C (way more than an orange, by the way), vitamin K, as well as beta carotene, folic acid, iron, magnesium and fiber. They’re also high in selenium, which is associated with reduced risks of certain cancers, as well as increased male virility.
Brussels sprouts can have undesirable side effects for anyone on anticoagulant medication. A man in Scotland was hospitalized last year for eating too many of the cruciferous vegetables, which are high in blood clot-promoting vitamin K, after they counteracted the effects of his medication.
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Baby Corn
Baby corn (also known as young corn, mini corn, cornlettes, or candle corn in Thai language cookbooks) is a cereal grain taken from corn (maize) harvested early while the stalks are still small and immature. It typically is eaten whole – cob included – in contrast to mature corn, whose cob is too tough for human consumption. It is eaten both raw and cooked. Baby corn is common in stir fry dishes.
Production methods
There are two methods for producing baby corn either as a primary crop or as a secondary crop in a planting of sweet corn or field corn. In the first method, a seed variety is chosen and planted to produce only baby corn. (Many varieties are suitable, but those developed specifically for baby corn tend to produce more ears per plant.) In the second production method, the variety is selected to produce sweet or field corn. The second ear from the
top of the plant is harvested for baby corn, while the top ear is allowed to mature. Baby corn ears are hand-picked as soon as the corn silks emerge from the ear tips, or a few days after. Corn generally matures very quickly, so the harvest of baby corn must be timed carefully to avoid ending up with more mature corn ears. Baby corn ears are typically 4.5 to 10 cm (1.8–3.9 in) in length and 7 to 17 mm (0.28–0.67 in) in diameter.
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Cabbage
Cabbage or headed cabbage (comprising several cultivars of Brassica oleracea) is a leafy green or purple biennial plant, grown as an annual vegetable crop for its dense-leaved heads. It is descended from the wild cabbage, B. oleracea var. oleracea, and is closely related to broccoli and cauliflower (var. botrytis), Brussels sprouts (var. gemmifera) and savoy cabbage (var. sabauda) which are sometimes called cole crops. Cabbage heads generally range from 0.5 to 4 kilograms (1 to 9 lb), and can be green, purple and white. Smooth-leafed firm-headed green cabbages are the most common, with smooth-leafed red and crinkle-leafed savoy cabbages of both colors seen more rarely. It is a multi-layered vegetable. Under conditions of long sunlit days such as are found at high northern latitudes in summer, cabbages can grow much larger. Some records are discussed at the end of the history section. Cabbage was most likely domesticated somewhere in Europe before 1000 BC, although savoys were not developed until the 16th century. By the Middle Ages, cabbage had become a prominent part of European cuisine. Cabbage heads are generally picked during the first year of the plant’s life 47% of the world total.
cycle, but plants intended for seed are allowed to grow a second year, and must be kept separated from other cole crops to prevent cross-pollination. Cabbage is prone to several nutrient deficiencies, as well as to multiple pests, and bacterial and fungal diseases. The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations reported that world production of cabbage and other brassicas for 2014 was 71.8 million metric tonnes, with China accounting for Cabbages are prepared in many different ways for eating. They can be pickled, fermented for dishes such as sauerkraut, steamed, stewed, sautéed, braised, or eaten raw. Cabbage is a good source of vitamin K, vitamin C and dietary fiber. Contaminated cabbage has been linked to cases of food-borne illness in humans.
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