Fruit Vegetables Category

Fruit Vegetables
Chinese eggplant, qiézi
Chinese eggplant
Compared to the familiar American eggplant, Chinese eggplants have thinner skins, a more delicate flavor, and not as many of the seeds that tend to make eggplants bitter.
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chipotle negro chile, red-black chipotle, mora, chipotle mora, black chipotle
chipotle negro chile
These are darker, milder versions of the chipotle chile.
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chipotle pepper , chile seco, jalapeno pepper dried, smoked jalapeno pepper
chipotle pepper
These dried and smoked jalapeño peppers lend a wonderful, complex flavor to sauces. They're usually rehydrated and canned in adobo sauce, but you can also buy them dried in cellophane bags. They are medium hot.
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Costeño Amarillo, bandeño, chile costeño, Costeno amarillo
Costeño Amarillo
This yellow Mexican chili is used to make soups, stews, and mole sauces. It's fruity and moderately hot and somewhat hard to find.
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cousa squash
cousa squash
This Middle-Eastern summer squash looks a lot like spaghetti squash, only it has a thin, edible skin. It's similar to zucchini, but its larger size makes it a natural for stuffing.
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cracked Provencal
These aromatic green olives are marinated in a solution with herbes de Provence.
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cuaresmeno - fresh
cuaresmeno - fresh
They are moderately hot.
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cubanelle, Cuban pepper, Friarelli, Green cubanelle, Italian frying pepper
cubanelle
These sweet, mild peppers are usually sold while yellowish-green. They become hotter and redder as they mature.
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currant tomato, pimp
currant tomato
These are about half the size of cherry tomatoes.
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delicata squash, Bohemian squash, sweet potato squash
delicata squash
This is one of the tastier winter squashes, with creamy pulp that tastes a bit like sweet potatoes. Choose squash that are heavy for their size.
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dried eggplant
dried eggplant
Look for these in Middle Eastern markets.
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Eggplants, aubergine, berenjena, brinjal, egg apple, garden egg, Guinea squash
Eggplants
This is a spongy, mild-tasting vegetable that's meaty yet low in calories. It's never eaten raw, but it can be baked, grilled, or sautéed. The best eggplants are shiny, firm (but not too hard), and heavy for their size, with bright green stems and unbroken skin. Smaller eggplants tend to have fewer bitter seeds, as do "male" ones with round scars at their blossom (non-stem) end. (The scars on "female" eggplants look like dashes.) Freshness is important, so don't store eggplants for very long.
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empeltre olive
empeltre olives
These Spanish black olives are soaked in sherry.
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English cucumber, burpless cucumber, English cucumber, European cucumber
English cucumber
This foot-long slicing cucumber is pricier and less flavorful than other varieties, but it has less conspicuous seeds, a thinner skin, and a plastic wrapper--instead of a wax coating--to improve shelf life. All of this saves preparation time, since there's no need to peel or seed the cucumber before slicing it. This is a good variety if you focused on looks--you can cut it into round, green trimmed slices.
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Fresno pepper, Fresno chile pepper, Fresno chili pepper
Fresno pepper
These are similar to jalapeno peppers, but with thinner walls. They're great in salsas. Green Fresnos are available in the summer. the hotter red ones come out in the fall.
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Fuerte avocado, Florida avocado
Fuerte avocado
This is in season from late fall through spring. It's not quite as buttery as the Hass avocado, but its flavor is excellent.
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fuzzy melon, Chi qua, fuzzy gourd, hairy cucumber, hairy melon, moqua, wax gourd
fuzzy melon
This sweet and mild squash has a fuzzy feel to it.
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Gaeta olive, Gyeta olive
Gaeta olives
These are small, purple Italian olives are either dry-cured (making them black and wrinkled) or brine-cured (making them dark purple and smooth-skinned).
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garden cucumber, field-grown cucumbers, market cucumber, outdoor cucumber
garden cucumber
You can find these throughout the year at all but the most poorly stocked markets. The ones you find in supermarkets are usually waxed to hold in moisture and improve shelf-life--these should be peeled or at least scrubbed well before serving. Unwaxed cucumbers don't need to be peeled, but better cooks often do so since the peels tend to be thick and bitter. It's also a good idea to remove the seeds from these kinds of cucumbers; just cut them in half lengthwise and scrape them out. Select cukes that are firm, dark green, and rounded at the tips.
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garden eggs
garden eggs
These are tiny eggplants, the size of an egg or smaller. Their color ranges from white to greenish-yellow.
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gherkin cucumber
gherkin cucumber
These small, bumpy greed cucumbers are used to make Gherkin pickles or, if pickled while still small, cornichon pickles.
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ghost pepper
ghost pepper
Ghost peppers are a very hot (over 1,000,000 scovilles) hybrid between Capsicum chinese and Capsicum frutescens. It is grown and used in northern India.
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globe squash, Ronde de Nice
globe squash
You can stuff these and bake them, or slice and sauté them.
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golden delicious squash
golden delicious squash
This is an orange-red variety of Hubbard squash
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golden nugget squash, oriental pumpkin
golden nugget squash
This has a pleasant flavor, but it doesn't have as much flesh as other squashes and the heavy rind makes it hard to cut before cooking. Select specimens that are heavy for their size, and that have a dull finish. Those with shiny rinds were probably picked too young, and won't be as sweet.
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Greek black olives
Greek black olives
A generic black Greek olive is large, dark purple and brine-cured. Popular varieties include Kalamata, Amphissa, and Royal.
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Greek green olives
Greek green olives
Napfilion and Ionian olives are the most common types of green Greek olives.
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green goddess eggplant
green goddess eggplant
This has a very mild flavor.
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green olives
green olives
Green olives are picked from the tree before they're completely ripened. The most common variety is the Manzanilla olive, which is often pitted and stuffed. Other green olives varieties include the Agrinion, Arauco, Arbequina, Atalanta, green Cerignola, cracked Provençal, Kura, Lucque, Nafplion, Picholine, Sevillano, and Sicilian.
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green tomato
green tomato
These are picked before they turn red. Southerners like to fry them.
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guajillo chili , dried mirasol chile, chile Guajillo
guajillo chili
One of the more popular Mexican chilies, the guajillo (or dried mirasol chili) has a fruity flavor and medium heat (Scoville heat scale of 2,500 to 5,000 SHU). It's smooth, shiny, and reddish-brown, and it has a tough skin, so it needs to be soaked longer than other chiles. These are commonly used for marinades and adobos.
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guero pepper, caloro, caribe, chile guero, goldspike, Sante Fe grande
guero pepper
These are moderately hot.
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habanero - dried, habañero chili, habañero pepper
habanero - dried
Don't confuse dried habaneros with the fresh version, which goes by the same name. These extremely hot chiles are wrinkled and orange.
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habanero - fresh, habanero pepper
habanero - fresh
These extremely hot orange chiles have a fruity flavor. They're best in the summertime.
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Hass avocado, California avocado
Hass avocado
This is available year-round and has a rich flavor and creamy texture. The skin turns almost black when the avocado is ripe, which can camouflage bad bruises. This is the best variety by far for guacamole, but it turns a bit mushy in salads.
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