Cleaning Fruits and Vegetables

“Fabulous Fruits and Vital Vegetables” by Georgina Cundall Page 18 of 101What is a Vegetable?The word vegetable was first recorded in print in English in the14th century. The word comes from Latin ‘vegetabilis’ and fromvegetare, or enliven. This means to the part of a plant that isgrowing.However, the meaning of plant grown for food was not establisheduntil the 18th century.The scientific and traditional definition of vegetable is moresubjective than arbitrary. Normally, the edible part of a plant iscalled a vegetable. Some people consider a plant part which isnormally eaten as unsweetened or with salted food a vegetable.Customs in various places also define a vegetable in particular ways.Individual food selection and choices also contribute towards aspecific plant product being called a vegetable or not.Mushrooms are categorized as a vegetable, although they arebiologically fungi.Grains, nuts, herbs, seeds, spices, and culinary fruits are notconsidered vegetables although all of them are edible parts ofplants.In the culinary sense, vegetables are ideally best suited for saltedand unsweetened dishes, with a few exceptions like pumpkin pie.Again, definition of vegetable does not imply that the product needsto be cooked.Copyright © 2008 ~ All Rights Reserved 18.