Root vegetable

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Root vegetables are underground plant parts used as vegetables. They are called root vegetables for lack of a better generic term, but include both true roots such as tuberous roots and taproots, as well as non-roots such as tubers, rhizomes, corms, and bulbs. Several types contain both taproot and hypocotyl tissue, and it may be difficult to distinguish the two.

Regardless of anatomical type, root vegetables are generally storage organs, enlarged to store energy in the form of carbohydrates. They differ in the concentration and the balance between sugars, starches, and other types of carbohydrate.

Of particular economic importance are those with a high carbohydrate concentration in the form of starch. These starchy root vegetables are important staple foods, particularly in tropical regions. They overshadow the cereals throughout much of West Africa, Central Africa, and Oceania, where they are used directly or mashed to make foufou or poi.

According to 2004 FAO statistics [1], the most important starchy root vegetables by world-wide production (in million metric tons) are:

Potato 328
   
Cassava 203
   
Sweet potato 127
   
Yams 40
   
Taro 11
   
All others 7
   

South America has been a particularly fertile ground in the domestication of root vegetables, giving the world the ahipa, arracacha, canna, cassava, maca, malanga, mashua, mauka, oca, potato, sweet potato, ulluco, and yacón.

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List of root vegetables by anatomical type

Image:Turnip.JPG Image:Manihot esculenta dsc07325.jpg Image:Colocasia esculenta dsc07801.jpg Image:YamsatBrixtonMarket.jpg Image:Shallots - sliced and whole.jpg

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External links

de:Wurzelgemüse fr:Légume-racine ja:根菜 nl:Wortelgewas nn:Rotfrukt ru:Корнеплод sv:Rotfrukter

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