Module 1 Thinking about edible plants and Gwyneth

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

Vegetable Variety • Vegetables come in all shapes, sizes, flavours textures and colours. • We eat different parts of plants. ©Gwyneth Marsh 2007 ©Gwyneth Marsh 2007

Roots Some vegetables are biennial plants. Carrot ©Gwyneth Marsh 2007 Turnip ©Gwyneth Marsh 2007 We eat the root which is the plants food store from which it grows a flower and seeds the next year. ©Gwyneth Marsh 2007 Beetroot Parsnip

Stems We eat the stems of plants like celery and fennel. Asparagus is a stem and tender shoot. ©Gwyneth Marsh 2007 Fennel Celery Asparagus

Leaves The leaves of cabbage, lettuce, spinach and rocket can be eaten raw and cooked. ©Gwyneth Marsh 2007 Cabbage ©Gwyneth Marsh 2007 Lettuce ©Gwyneth Marsh 2007 Rocket

Flowers Broccoli and cauliflower are flowers that have not yet opened. ©Gwyneth Marsh 2007 Cauliflower ©Gwyneth Marsh 2007 Broccoli

Fruits Tomatoes, aubergines and peppers are the fruits of plants. If you cut them open you can see the seeds inside. ©Gwyneth Marsh 2007 Tomatoes Aubergines ©Gwyneth Marsh 2007 Sweet peppers

Seeds We can eat the seeds and pods of runner beans, French beans, peas and broad beans. ©Gwyneth Marsh 2007 French beans ©Gwyneth Marsh 2007 Peas Broad beans

Oddities Potato fruit ©Susan Johnson 2007 Some plant parts are poisonous. Potato fruits look like tomatoes but we cannot eat them. ©Susan Johnson 2007 We can eat the tubers that are the swollen underground stems of the potato plant.

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. Onion Leek Red onion ©Gwyneth Marsh 2007 Spring onion

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 Vegetables help to keep us healthy by providing our bodies with vitamins, minerals and fibre. Enjoy eating them! ©Gwyneth Marsh 2007 Look at their different shapes, colours, flavours and textures – investigate.