Incredible, Edible Vegetable Facts

As long as we’re on the subject of vegetables, here are a slew of vegetable facts for you to, raw or cooked, chew on:

• You should eat at least five servings of fruits and vegetables a day. In most cases, a serving equals one-half cup.
• Bell peppers are usually sold green, but they can also come in red, purple or yellow.
• The most-consumed fruit or vegetable in the United States? The tomato.
• Actually a fruit, it took a ruling by the Supreme Court in 1893 to make the tomato a vegetable.
• Tomatoes are very high in the carotenoid lycopene; eating foods with carotenoids can lower your risk of cancer. Other vegetables high in carotenoids: carrots, spinach, sweet potatoes, and collard greens.
• A horn worm can eat an entire tomato plant by itself in one day.
• White potatoes are native to the Andes of South America. They made their first appearance in Europe in 1586. They became a staple food in Ireland; a blight caused the potato crop to fail, leading to a famine that killed half a million people.
• Most of the nutrients in a potato are found just below the skin. Always eat the skin! If you do, you’ll get 4 g of dietary fiber.
• California produces almost all of the broccoli sold in the United States.
• Looking for a powerhouse? Brussels sprouts offer protection from vitamin-A deficiency, bone loss, iron-deficiency anemia and are believed to protect from cardiovascular diseases and colon and prostate cancers.
• Swiss chard is very low in calories (19 cal per 100 g fresh, raw leaves) and fat, and is recommended in cholesterol-controlling and weight reduction programs.
• A popular Chinese proverb holds that “eating pungent radish and drinking hot tea, let the starved doctors beg on their knees.”
• Sweet corn is a gluten-free cereal and may be used safely in celiac disease diets much like rice and quinoa.