VEGETABLES (Lat. .regetabilis, enlivening, animating, from regetarr, to quicken, animate, from rcgetus, lively, from regere, to move, he active: connected with ripen-, to flourish). Since the different kinds of vegetables and their culture are treated in separate articles on the individual crops, as beans, beets, cabbage, potatoes, peas, etc., this article is confined to the food value of vegetables.
The various parts of plants eaten as vegetables include roots (turnips, salsify) ; bulbs (onion, garlic) ; tubers (potato, Jerusalem artichoke) ; stems (sea-kale, asparagus) ; leaf buds (Brus sels sprouts) ; leaves (lettuce, cabbage) ; flower buds (cauliflower, capers) ; flowers (lily, arti and the cob of corn somewhat over 50 per cent. When potatoes, carrots, sweet potatoes, and pars nips are peeled the material removed constitutes on an average 20 per cent. of the original weight. The loss with fresh vegetables is usually less than with withered ones. The following table shows the average percentage composition of the edible portion of various vegetables, fresh and canned: choke) fruits, green (cucumbers, okra) ; fruits, ripe (tomato, melon) ; seeds, unripe (corn, peas) ; seeds, mat ure (lentil, bean). Few vege tables are eaten entire; they generally contain more or less inedible matter such as seeds, skin, etc., and when prepared for the table edible material is also commonly lost, an amount which varies with different vegetables, different speei mens of the same vegetable, and with the method of preparation. The pods; of fresh beans and peat; com-t linty on an average about 50 per cent. of the entire weight of the unshelled vegetable, It will he seen that (excepting the dry legumes mentioned ahove) vegetables have a high water content and a comparatively low percentage of nutrients in proportion to their bulk. The prin cipal nutrients are carbohydrates, including ni trogen-free extract (starch, sugar, etc.) and crude fibre. Some vegetables, notably the legumes, contain fairly largo amounts of protein. The
fat (or ether extract) consists of coloring-mat ters, wax, etc., in addition to true fat or oil. This group is not abundant in vegetables com monly eaten. The mineral matter of ash consists chiefly of salts of various organic acids, and also phosphates and chlorides. Vegetables contain various organic acids, ethers, and other similar bodies which are not estimated separately in proximate analysis like those quoted above, but are included in the group nitn)gen-free extract. They are largely accountable for flavors, though various salts and sugars also have a similar in fluence. In few cases have these flavors been studied chemically. (See Form.) When vege tables are cooked the chief change in percentage composition is in the water content. They may become drier if baked or fried, or more moist if stewed or boiled. The various chemical bodies are modified by cooking. Tints, albumens are coagulated, starches are tp some extent broken down into simpler substances, and other changes take place which arc not so well understood. Be sides the loss in paring vegetables and otherwise preparing them, there may be a loss during cook ing. For instance, when cabbage is boiled the water extracts nearly half of the total food material, which, being ordinarily thrown away, is lost. When potatoes are boiled the loss may be considerable, being greatest when they are peeled and soaked before boiling and least when they are boiled with the skins on. The materials lost in boiling vegetables are albuminoid and non-allm minoid nitrogen, mineral matter, and sugars. Lit tle starch is lost, except that accidentally re moved by abrasion. In the case of vegetables like carrots, which contain a fairly large amount of sugar, the amount extracted in boiling has been found nearly to equal 1 pound of sugar in a bushel of carrots. In the ordinary household such losses are not important, but where rigid economy is necessary they are worth considera tion.