Amicho is an Ethiopian root vegetable. It is the starchy underground “corm” from the root of the Enset plant. It’s treated like a potato, and boiled. See separate entry on Enset.
Root Vegetables
Añú
Añú is a cold-hardy, perennial plant related to the nasturtium that people grow in their flower gardens. The plant can climb up about 7 feet (2 metres) tall or spread out along the ground. The flowers, yellow petals with red spurs, are smaller than those of garden nasturtiums. The plant is classed as an herb….
Beet
Mixed beets with beet leaves © Michelle Mattern Beets are a root vegetable whose tubers are round with a high sugar content. Typically, one thought of beets as red, inside and out, and round. Now there are varieties that are tapered, white, yellow and even striped, such as the new chiogga beet. Sugar beets, which…
Black Salsify
Black salsify is a white, waxy-fleshed root vegetable with very dark brown skin. It is somewhat carrot-shaped. The leafy-tops above ground can be used as a salad green.
Garlic
Garlic is a member of the onion family that is grown for its bulb. Inside the bulb are individually-wrapped sections called “cloves”. Garlic is used both for its taste and its aroma.
Imo
Imo is a generic Japanese word for “tuber.” It can be used to refer to potatoes (“jyaga imo”), sweet potatoes (“satsuma imo”), yams (“yama imo”) or taro (“sato imo”). History Notes Both potatoes and sweet potatoes in Japan are originally from the Americas, though many Japanese cultivars have been developed. Language Notes “Sato-imo”, means “starch…
Kohlrabi
Kohlrabi © Michelle Mattern Kohlrabi is a member of the cabbage family that is treated as a root vegetable. It is a cabbage with an enlarged, turnip-shaped stem which is referred to as a bulb. The bulb grows above ground, just on the surface of the soil. With the stems sticking out of the bulb,…
Konjac Root
Konjac Root is a starchy, perennial tuber (actually corm) that grows up to 10 inches (25 cm) wide. Above ground, it has beautiful red flowers. It is rarely actually sold as a whole root in stores or markets. It is usually sold processed into something such as Konnyaku Powder for jelly, or for use as…
Malanga
Malanga is a starchy root vegetable that looks like a yam. The plant is a tropical rain forest plant, but it doesn’t need water all the time, and grows fine in full sunlight. The temperature, though, must remain above 68 F (20°C.) Above ground, the plant can grow 5 feet (1.5 metres) tall or more….
Oca
Oca is a root vegetable. Above ground, the plant (which is actually an herb) is a very small perennial, only growing about 8 to 12 inches high (20 to 30 cm.) Its stems can be yellow and green or purplish. It is propagated by replanting its tubers. The edible tubers that grow underground look like…
Onions
Onions © Paula Trites Onions are a plant bulb used in cooking for the flavour they add to food. Their taste can range from savoury to hot to sweet. If a recipe just calls for “onion”, it means a “Globe Onion”, which is the variety, yellow (aka brown) or white, that has become our unsung,…
Root Vegetables
Root Vegetables © Denzil Green What we call Root Vegetables aren’t actually all roots: the category also includes other strangely named things such as corms, rhizomes and tubers. For instance, a potato isn’t a root; it’s actually a “tuber.” Peanuts are “technically” Root Vegetables, because they are tubers that grow off a rhizome underground, but…
Rutabaga
Rutabagas are different from Turnips and Swedes. You can use them all interchangeably, though, which is a mercy, as no one can really tell the difference, especially not your local green grocer!Most Rutabagas have yellow flesh (though some Turnips and Swedes do, too.) There are other perhaps better ways to tell the difference. First, Rutabaga…
Salsify
Salsify is a white-fleshed root vegetable with white skin and a delicate flavour. It is somewhat carrot-shaped. The leafy-tops above ground can be used as a salad green when young.
Sea Holly
Sea Holly is a seaside plant that has young shoots that can be eaten as you do asparagus.Its aromatic roots can also be eaten as a vegetable. They are somewhat sweet, smelling and tasting a bit like carrot or parsnip when cooked. When candied with sugar and orange flower water, they are called “eryngoes.” It…
Silverweed Cinquefoil
Silverweed Cinquefoil is a perennial plant that prefers to grow in marshy ground. It usually grows as ground cover, but can grow up to 2 feet (60 cm) tall. To reproduce, it sends out long above-ground runners, that take root where the tips of them touch the ground. Its leaves appear lighter on their undersides,…
Taro
Taro © Denzil Green Taro is a root vegetable. Above ground, it is a bush that can grow anywhere from 3 to 6 feet tall (1 to 2 metres.) The bush is a perennial plant, but it is harvested like an annual. The bush’s root system grows as one large root surrounded by several smaller…
Yamagoboo
Yamagoboo © Denzil Green Yamagoboo (Edible Burdock) is a biennial plant whose root can be treated as a root vegetable. Above ground, the plant has very large leaves up to 2 feet (60 cm) long and 1 foot (30 cm) wide. There is white fuzz on the undersides of leaves. For the first year or…