On Food and Cooking

sweet potato to Europe, and by the end of the 15th century it was established in China and the Philippines. Chin ...

Most sweet potato varieties sweeten during cooking thanks to the action of an enzyme that attacks starch and brea ...

fragments of the carotenoid pigments. Some varieties (e.g., red-skinned Garnet) suffer from after-cooking darkenin ...

plant in the spurge family, Manihot esculenta, which has the very useful habit of lasting in the ground for as mu ...

remoistened in desserts and drinks. Sweet cassava varieties are less productive crop plants, but ha ...

plant native to eastern Asia and the Pacific islands, Colocasia esculenta, which is in the arum ...

into and tinge the cream-colored flesh. Taro retains its shape when simmered, and it becomes waxy on cooling. ...

American markets, where “yam” means a sugary orange sweet potato (p. 304). True yams can grow to ...

contain less starch than potatoes and are notably sweet; they may be 5% sugars, a mixture of sucrose, glucos ...

been cultivated since classical times; and some wild carrot populations. The familiar orange carrot, t ...

defensive chemical. Peeling the thin outer layer removes most of the bitterness as well as phenolic compounds ...

carrot, but converts it to sugars when exposed to cold temperatures; so winter roots are sweeter than aut ...

Burdock Roots and tubers from northerly members of the lettuce family share three characteristics: an abundance ...

pleasantly moist, crunchy, and sweet when raw, and becomes soft and sweet after brief cooking. When cooke ...

Other Common Roots and Tubers Chinese Water Chestnut and Tiger Nut The Chinese water chestnut and the tiger n ...

and resoaking, straining, and adding sugar. In Asia, where Chinese and horned water chestnuts are sometimes cultiva ...

cause gassy discomfort. Crosnes contain little starch, and turn mushy when even slightly overcooked. Jicama ...

connotations. The rhizome contains large void spaces, so cross-sectional slices have a characteristic lacy ...

Beet, Turnip, Radish, Onion, and Others The members of this mixed category of vegetables sit at or just below ...

depicted in the 16th century. Table beets are about 3% sugar and some large animal-feed varieties are ...