Vegetables Category

This orange-fleshed winter squash is popular because of its small size--it can be cut in half and baked to make two generous servings. The rind, unfortunately, is quite hard and difficult to cut. To avoid injuring yourself, first slice off both the top and the bottom with a sharp knife, and use the stem end as a base for the more treacherous halving cut. Select acorn squash with as much green on the rind as possible, though most will have a single orange spot on one side.

This is a large, green Greek olive with very tender flesh.

This hot (40,000 Scovilles) chili originated in Peru and is a common usage in western South America. It is four inches long and yellow until it matures and turns red.

This reddish-brown dried chili is fruity, mild, and a little smoky.

This is a black, dry-cured Middle Eastern olive that's hard to find in the United States.

These are too wispy to cook, but they're great raw in salads and sandwiches.

This large Chilean olive is cured in a wine or wine vinegar solution, which gives it a beautiful dark purple color and tart flavor. Its flesh is very tender and slightly bitter.

This is the familiar large, dark purple, pear-shaped variety. Choose small or medium-sized eggplants (these have fewer bitter seeds) with healthy-looking green stems that are firm to the touch, but not too hard. Avoid mushy ones. Store them in the refrigerator.

These are dark purple Greek olives that are hard to find in the U.S. They're great for snacking.

These large, mild chiles are perfect for chiles rellenos. Mexican cooks also like to dice or purée them, and then add them to sauces, soups, and casseroles. They have a tough skin, but it peels off easily if you first char the chiles over a flame and then steam them in a paper bag for several minutes. Anaheims are available year-round, but they're best in the summer. You can occasionally find red Anaheims, which are riper and slightly hotter. When dried, this pepper is called a chile Colorado.

These mild, dried poblano peppers have a sweet, fruity flavor and are a staple in Mexican cuisine. They're brownish-black and wrinkled, and commonly used in adobos, moles, salsas, and various sauces.

A native of Pakistan, this mild vegetable has a slightly bitter edge that pairs well with sweet and acidic ingredients in stir-fry dishes. You can also eat it raw, or dry it to make a loofa sponge. You can leave the peel on, but some people find the flavor off-putting. Remove any large seeds if you wish to cut the bitterness.

These eggplant resemble green apples, and are mild and sweet. You don't need to peel them.

This popular seaweed is very sweet and mild, and it's loaded with iron, calcium, and iodine.

These are large green Spanish olives flavored with rosemary.

These are tiny green Spanish olives with a mild, smoky flavor. They're hard to find in the U.S.

These come from South America. According to the FAO, they taste like a cross between celery, cabbage, and chestnuts.

The name arrowroot is more commonly associated with a thickener that's made from the plant. A fresh arrowroot tuber looks like a small onion, only without the layers. It should be peeled, and then it can be boiled or stir-fried. Look for it in Chinese markets during the winter.

Artichokes are the unopened flowers and stems of a kind of thistle. You cook them, then peel off and eat the bases of the thick green petals (called leaves). At the center is the heart, the choicest portion of the artichoke, covered by the choke, a hairy pad that should be peeled off and discarded. Their peak season is early summer.

With its peppery and slightly bitter flavor, arugula is a terrific green to throw into an otherwise boring salad. It can be gently braised, too. Some supermarkets sell it in small bunches, but you're more likely to find it combined with other greens in a spring salad mix.

Include Japanese eggplants and Chinese eggplants, have thinner skins and a more delicate flavor than American eggplants, and not as many of the seeds that tend to make eggplants bitter. They're usually more slender than American eggplants, but they vary in size and shape. They range in color from lavender to pink, green, and white.

Asparagus has a wonderfully distinctive flavor and a meaty texture. It's often served as a side dish, after being steamed or briefly boiled. Better cooks insist that it be peeled first, but many people skip this step. To remove the tough base, simply snap the asparagus in half with your hands. The stalk should break right about at the point where it starts getting too tough to serve to company. There's a purple variety, but it turns green when it's cooked and so loses its novelty. White asparagus, on the other hand, is more tender than green, and more expensive. Asparagus is often available year-round, but the best time to buy it is in the spring.

This is a muddy-green Greek olive with soft flesh.

This sweet, smooth-skinned variety shows up in the middle of winter. It's not as flavorful as other avocados.

You can buy fresh shoots at some Chinese markets, but you must boil them first to rid them of hydrocyanic acid, a toxin that causes cyanide poisoning. Canned shoots are safer and more widely available. Rinse them well before using. Submerge any unused shoots in fresh water and store them in a sealed container in the refrigerator, changing the water daily.

These are popular in Southeast Asia and India, where they're boiled in water or coconut milk, then eaten like artichokes

These sweet, mild peppers with a fruity flavor are easily confused with hotter yellow wax peppers. Sample before using.

This variety is so large that grocers usually cut into smaller chunks before putting it out. It's tasty, but its biggest virtue is the beautiful golden color of its flesh.

These grow yellow and sour-tasting with age, so buy only white ones. They're best sautéed or gently boiled.

Beets have a distinctive earthy flavor that's enhanced by roasting, but they can also be steamed, microwaved, or boiled. A beet will be more flavorful and colorful if you leave the peel and some of the stem on while it's cooking. After it's cooled down, the peel comes off fairly easily. Varieties include the familiar red beets, golden beets, which turn a golden orange when cooked and are slightly sweeter than red beets, white beets, and chioggia (pronounced KYAHD-dja) = candy-stripe beets = candy cane beets which have alternating white and red rings inside. Baby beets are sweeter and faster-cooking than larger beets. Select beets that are heavy for their size. Canned beets are a good substitute for fresh.

Like their close relative, Swiss chard, beet greens have lots of flavor and a good, sturdy texture. The best ones are young and tender, and sometimes come with small beets attached.

These crunchy, slightly bitter leaves are often used to make hors d'oeuvres, but they can also be chopped and added to salads, or braised to make an exquisite (and expensive) side dish. Select heads with yellow tips; those with green tips are more bitter. Their peak season is the late fall and winter.

Red and yellow peppers are riper, more flavorful, and pricier than the more common green ones. You can occasionally find bell peppers in other colors as well, like brown, white, pink, orange, and purple. Bell peppers are the perfect size for hollowing out and stuffing, or you can slice them into strips for snacking or dipping.

These bulb-shaped onions have a sweet mild flavor. They're available in the spring.

This butterhead lettuce has delicate, loose leaves and lots of flavor. The only downside is that it's usually expensive.

This is a creamy, yellow-fleshed potato that's especially good for roasting and making fries