Module 1. Thinking about edible plants and Module 3. Profiling a Vegetable ©Gwyneth Marsh 2007

Module 1. Thinking about edible plants and

Module 3. Profiling a Vegetable

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Vegetable Variety

• Vegetables come in all shapes, sizes, flavours textures and colours.

• We eat different parts of plants.

©Gwyneth Marsh 2007

©Gwyneth Marsh 2007©Gwyneth Marsh 2007



RootsSome vegetables are biennial plants.

We eat the root which is the plants food store from which it grows a flower and seeds the next year.

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©G

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Turnip Beetroot Parsnip

Carrot

StemsWe eat the stems of plants like celery and fennel.

Asparagus is a stem and tender shoot.


Fennel Celery Asparagus

Leaves

The leaves of cabbage, lettuce, spinach and rocket can be eaten raw and cooked.

Cabbage RocketLettuce




FlowersBroccoli and cauliflower are flowers that have

not yet opened.


Cauliflower Broccoli

FruitsTomatoes, aubergines and peppers are the fruits of

plants. If you cut them open you can see the seeds inside.

Tomatoes Aubergines Sweet peppers


©Gwyneth Marsh 2007 ©Gwyneth Marsh 2007

SeedsWe can eat the seeds and pods of runner beans, French beans, peas and broad beans.

French beans Peas Broad beans




Oddities

©Susan Johnson 2007 Potato fruit

Some plant parts are poisonous.

Potato fruits look like tomatoes but we cannot

eat them.

We can eat the tubers that are the swollen

underground stems of the potato plant.

©Susan Johnson 2007 ©Susan Johnson 2007

Onions Onions are bulbs. They are the swollen part of the leaf that stores food ready for the plant to grow and flower. We eat them before they flower. Leeks and spring onions are in the onion family.

Leek

Onion

Spring onion

Red onion

©G

wyneth M

arsh 2007

Plants as Food

Not all plants are edible.

Some that we eat, vegetables, have been grown for thousands of years.

If you see a plant that you think might be a vegetable check with an adult before you eat it.

Wash vegetables well, they may have soil on them.

Enjoy Eating VegetablesVegetables help to keep us healthy by providing our bodies with vitamins, minerals and fibre.

Look at their different shapes, colours, flavours and textures – investigate.

Enjoy eating them!

©G

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Documents

Module 1. Thinking about edible plants and Module 3. Profiling a Vegetable ©Gwyneth Marsh 2007