M7.1 - Session 1

• Botanical vegetables are plants or parts of the plant used as food whether raw or cooked.

  Examples of botanical classification of vegetables are root, bulbs, seed, tuber, stems, shoots, leaves, flowers, and fruits.
• culinary vegetables are served as an appetizer, main dish, or side dish. This is usually served with the meal as the viand or salads but not as desserts.
• Botanical fruits are fleshy and juicy products of plants that contain seeds. They have ovaries and adjacent parts of a plant’s flowers.
• culinary fruits are sweet and fleshy that are usually eaten as appetizer or dessert.
• Roots and tubers are the underground part of the plant. Examples are kamote or sweet potato, kamoteng kahoy or cassava, carrot, gabi or taro, labanos or radish, singkamas or yam bean, tugi or spiny yam, ubi or purple yam, and patatas or potatoes.
• Bulbs are underground buds that spend down its roots and are made up of short stems with many layers. Examples are chives, garlic, leeks, onions, and shallots.
• Seeds are the part of the plant which a new plant will grow.

  Under the classification of seeds, we have legumes which are grouped further into soybeans, peanuts, fresh peas, fresh beans, and pulses.

  Pulses are further classified into dry beans, dry peas, chickpeas, and lentils.
• Stems and shoots are the stalks supporting the leaves. Examples are asparagus, celery, and bamboo shoots or ubod.
• Examples of leaves consumed as vegetables are cabbage, spinach, sweet potato tops, kangkong or swamp cabbag, lettuce, and petchay or chinese cabbage.
• Examples of fruits consumed as vegetables are cucumber, squash, tomato, and eggplant.
• Examples of flowers consumed as vegetables are broccoli, cauliflower, and squash flowers.
• Carbohydrate-rich: seeds, roots and tubers
• Vegetables that are rich in proteins include seeds such as legumes (pulses, mung bean, and soybeans).
• Nuts, olives, and avocado are examples of fruits and vegetables that have a high fat content.
• On the other hand, a lot of fruits and vegetables have very high amount of moisture. These include kabuti or mushroom, kamatis or tomatoes, kintsay or celery, koliplower or cauliflower, labanos or radish, letsugas or lettuce, and repolyo or cabbage.
• Recommended sources of vitamin A include green leafy and yellow fruits and vegetables.
• Succulent fruits such as guava, tomato, and citruses are especially good sources of Vitamin C.
• Beans and leafy green vegetables are rich sources of B vitamin.

  Green leafy vegetables like ampalaya tops, kulitis, pepper leaves, kangkong, saluyot, and dried beans are rich in riboflavin of vitamin B2.

  Dark green leafy vegetables are good sources of niacin or vitamin B3.

  Whereas, citrus fruits and juices are considered significant sources of thiamin or vitamin B1 and folate or vitamin B9.
• Simple fruits develop from 1 flower.

  Drupes are a type of simple fruits where the stone or pit encloses the seed surrounded by the fleshy pulp as you can see in the labelled photo. Examples of drupes are almond, peach, plum, and olive.
• Pomes is a type of simple fruit where the central core is surrounded by a soft pulp.. Examples of pomes are apple and pear.
• The endocarp of pomes is leathery and the mesocarp is soft
• Hesperidium is a type of simple fruit where the partitions, segments or carpels enclose the fleshy pulp. Examples of hesperidium are citrus fruits such as lemon and orange.
• Berry is a type of simple fruit where the pericarp containing the endocarp, mesocarp, and exocarp is fleshy and usually have many seeds. Examples of berry are grapes, tomato, and banana.
• Pepo is a type of simple fruit similar to a berry but with an outer wall or rind. Examples of pepo are melon and pumpkin.
• Aggregate fruits develop from a single flower with several ovaries. Thus, it is also called “polydrupes.” Examples are strawberries and blackberries.
• Multiple fruits develop from a cluster of several flowers. An example is pineapple.
• Carbohydrates constitute the largest percentage of the dry weight of plant materials. It is the basic molecule formed during photosynthesis when water and carbon dioxide combine to yield carbohydrate and oxygen.
• Starch is the storage component of carbohydrate located in the roots, tubers, stems, and seeds of plants. When subjected to heat and water, starch absorbs water and gelatinizes.
• Cellulose is most abundant water-insoluble fiber that provides structure to plant cell walls.
• Hemicellulose fiber provides structure in cell walls and the majority is insoluble. It is softened when heated in an alkaline environment.
• Pectic substances are the firm, intercellular “cement” between adjacent cell walls which when extracted can exhibit gel-forming abilities in food products
• Lignin

  • Non-CHO fiber in complex vascular and supporting tissue
  • Older vegetables
  • "woody" texture, tough, stringy
  • Unchanged by heat
• Protein in most plants are less than 1% of the composition. However, Protein is most prevalent in legumes (peas and beans) but these are incomplete proteins as it lacks the essential amino acid, methionine.
• Fat composes approximately 5% of the dry weight of roots, stems, and leaves of vegetables. It makes up less than 1% of the dry weight of a fruit, except for fruits such as avocados and olives, which contain 16% and 14% fat, respectively.
• Vitamins present in vegetables and fruit primarily are carotene (a vitamin A precursor) and vitamin C.

  Betacarotene, a precursor of vitamin A, is present in dark orange fruits and vegetables and as an underlying pigment in green vegetables.
• Fruits supply more than 90% of the water-soluble vitamin C and a major percentage of the fat-soluble vitamin A in a diet.
• Fruits and vegetables, especially the latter, contribute minerals to the diet, notably calcium, magnesium, and iron. Calcium ions may be added to canned vegetables to promote firmness and lessen softening of pectic substances.
• Water

  • 10-80% of a plant, found in and between cell walls
  • Transport nutrients
  • Promote chemical reactions
  • Provide crisp texture if cell membrane are intact
• Water constitutes a small percentage of about 10% in seeds but is substantially larger in leaves.
• Phytochemicals are plant chemicals. They are non-nutrient materials but may be especially significant in disease prevention and controlling cancer.