Vegetables Flashcards Preview

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Flashcards in Vegetables Deck (46)
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1
Q

What is a vegetable?

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

- Vegetative portion of plant

2
Q

Is vegetable a botanical definition?

A
  • No

- It is a cultural word

3
Q

Leaves give what kind of ‘vegetable’?

A
  • Lettuce, Cabbage
4
Q

Stems give what kind of ‘vegetable’?

A
  • Broccoli
5
Q

Petioles give what kind of ‘vegetable’?

A
  • Celery, rhubarb
6
Q

Branches give what kind of ‘vegetable’?

A
  • Brussels sprouts
7
Q

Roots give what kind of ‘vegetable’?

A
  • Carrots
8
Q

Rhizomes give what kind of ‘vegetable’?

A
  • Ginger
9
Q

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

A
  • Potatoes
10
Q

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

A
  • Amarylliaceae (Amaryllis family)
  • Brassicaceae (Mustard family)
  • Solanaceae (Nightshade family)
11
Q

Amarylliaceae

A
  • Amaryllis family
  • Monocot
  • Edible bulbs
  • Bulbs planted before winter
12
Q

Examples of Amarylliaceae vegetables

A
  • Onion, Garlic (same genus)
  • Shallot
  • Leek
  • Chive
13
Q

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

A
  • Volatile sulphur compounds

- Changed by enzymes to become pungent, makes eyes water

14
Q

Where is much of the flavour in onions/garlic?

A
  • The smell, i.e. pungent sulphur compounds
15
Q

Onion

A
  • Amarylliaceae family

- Allium cepa

16
Q

Garlic

A
  • Amarylliaceae family
  • Allium sativum
  • Contains Allicin
17
Q

Allicin

A
  • Active ingredient that is good for health
  • Stimulates immune system
  • Contained in garlic, small amount in onion
18
Q

Brassicaceae, and where from?

A
  • Mustard family
  • Physical structures variable and malleable
  • Ancestor plant is wild mustard from north shore mediterranean
  • Fram Brassica oleraceae
19
Q

Brassicaceae vegetables

A
  • Cabbage
  • Brussels spouts
  • Broccoli
  • Cauliflower
  • Kale
  • Radish
  • Turnip
  • Daikon
  • Kohlrabi
  • Rutabaga
20
Q

Cabbage

A
  • Brassica
  • Short internodes, tightly packed leaves
  • Many forms (savoy, chinese, napa, bak choy)
21
Q

Brussels Sprouts

A
  • Brassica

- Heads like cabbage, but are lateral branches

22
Q

Broccoli

A
  • Brassica
  • Tight pack rosette plant with many branches
  • Eat the flowering buds before they flower
23
Q

Cauliflower

A
  • Brassica
  • Like broccoli
  • Infertile flower heads
24
Q

Kale

A
  • Brassica

- Leaves loosely packed in a rosette

25
Q

Solanaceae

A
  • Nightshade family
  • Named after flower structure?
  • Botanically they are Fruits
  • Edible part is often the ‘berry’
26
Q

Solanaceae vegetables

A
  • Tomato
  • Eggplant
  • Bell Pepper
  • Chili Pepper
  • Potato
27
Q

Tomato

A
  • 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
28
Q

Datura

A
  • Deadly nightshade
  • Tropane Alkaloids
  • Poisonous
  • Caused fear in some cultures of eating other nightshades like tomatoes
29
Q

Eggplant

A
  • Solanum melogena
30
Q

Bell pepper and chili pepper

A
  • Capsicum spp.

- Solanaceae family

31
Q

Potato, family and where from?

A
  • Solanaceae family
  • Solanum tuberosum
  • Scientifically described in Europe in 1596
  • Native to Andes, SA (Peru, Bolivia, Chile)
  • Staple food on the Altiplano
32
Q

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

A
  • Over 2000 plus species

- Approx. 200 make tubers

33
Q

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

A
  • 5th highest by tonnage in world production
34
Q

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

A
  • Approx. 5000 varieties of Potato
35
Q

How many varieties of potato can one Andean village cultivate?

A
  • 10 plus varieties
36
Q

Solanine

A
  • 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
37
Q

Geophagy

A
  • ‘Earth eating’
  • Eat clay to bind to toxins and remove from digestive system
  • Used to combat Solanine in potatoes
38
Q

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

A
  • Lots of starch makes potatoes a good food source

- Nutritious, can survive on them (i.e. The Martian)

39
Q

What is an advantage of tuber crops?

A
  • They can get big underground

- Means lots of food from starches

40
Q

When did potato cultivation spread across Europe?

A
  • After the Spanish brought it over
  • Spread slowly
  • Same concerns about edibility as tomato (i.e. nightshades have some poisonous species)
41
Q

When did potatoes become an important food source and why?

A
  • 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
42
Q

History of potato cultivation, major industry developments

A
  • 1840’s, German chemist identified nitrogen as necessity for plant growth
  • Imported Peruvian seabird guano for fertilizer
  • 1st big industry in intensive crop fertilization
43
Q

European potato blight

A
  • 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
44
Q

Great Irish Potato Famine

A
  • 1847

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

45
Q

Potato bug

A
  • Beetle
  • Arrived in Colorado in 1860’s
  • Massive infestations
  • Solution was using arsenic and copper
  • Led to birth of chemical pesticide industry
46
Q

3 developments potato farming led to

A
  • Intensive crop fertilization
  • Monoculture farming
  • Birth of chemical pesticide industry