VEGETABLES

Vegetable is an edible plant or plant part other than its sweet fruit or seed. It can be a plant as a whole or stem, leaf, flower or fruit.  The common vegetables include potato, cucumber, brinjal, tomato, drumstick etc. Vegetables are widely used for making a variety of recipes and the most popular vegetable recipe include salads, soups, sauce, sweets etc.  Carrot, pumpkin, gour etc are used for making cake while rhubarb like vegetables ate used for making sweet pie. Certain vegetables can be consumed raw while other can be in cooked form. Vegetables contain lot of vitamins and minerals besides containing protein, fats, fibers and carbohydrates. Phytochemicals that are contained in vegetables provide antifungal, antibacterial, antioxidant, antiviral and anticarcinogenic properties to the vegetables. Hence consuming vegetables daily helps to remain healthy. Based on the parts which are edible vegetables are classified in to

·         Flower bud vegetables which include broccoli, globe artichoke, cauliflower etc

·         Seed vegetables that cocnsist of peas, sweet corn,  popcorn, beans etc

·         Leaf vegetables include amaranthus, kale, cabbage, collar greens, lettuce, spinach, turnip, water crest, garlic chives etc

·         Leaf sheath vegetables include leeks

·         Bud vegetables consist of capers, Brussels sprout

·         Stem vegetables include kohlrabi

·         Stem shoot vegetables include bamboo shoots, asparagus, gin vegetales ger etc

·         Tubers consist of sweet potatoes, potato, artichokes, yams, taro etc

·         Whole-plant sprouts include mung beans, soybean, alfalfa, urad etc

·         Root vegatbles include parsnips, carrots, beets, radishes,    budrocks, turnip etc

·         Bulb vegetables include onions, garlic, shallots etc

·         Fruit vegetables include cucumbers. Tomatoes, pumpkins, peppers, egg plant, ladies finger, squashs, ash gourd  etc

Vegetables are highly perishable due to its higher water content and most of the vegetable farmers process their vegetables to store them for long and to get good price for their products. Processed products like sauce, ketchep, puree, chutney, chips, juice, soup etc fetch good price for the farmers and provide good shelf live for the products.  Vegetables are also preserved by freezing and for freezing blanch the vegetables first and there are different methods of blanching which include water blanching, steam blanching and microwave blanching.  Thereafter cool the vegetables quickly and then freeze by keeping in containers.  Vegetables can also can to preserve them for future usage. Processed form of vegetables such as puree, chips, sauce etc can be used readily.  Some vegetables are dehydrated such dehydrated inion, dehydrated garlic, cabbages, ginger, cucumber, spinach, potato, green chillies etc which can be stored for long.  In order to process the vegetables wash them thoroughly to remove the dust and pesticide residues and then process them accordingly. The value of canned, frozen and dried vegetables is increasing year after year just of their availability throughout the year and taste. Vegetable pickles are another important category of processed vegetable and is very popular in the market.

TOMATO

ORGANIC FARMING OF TOMATO