Vegetables — Detailed list with origin, taxonomy, and more

This is the full vegetables index — 125 detailed vegetables, each with its own profile. Click any name to open the full entry.

For vegetables, every profile covers scientific name, family, plant part, season, nutrition, and cooking uses.

All Vegetables

Artichoke

Cynara cardunculus var. scolymus

The unopened flower bud of a giant Mediterranean thistle, eaten by stripping leaves dipped in butter or vinaigrette and arriving at the prized tender heart.

A peppery, slightly bitter salad leaf with a distinctive mustardy heat that intensifies as the plant ages — also called rocket in Britain and Australia; a Mediterranean staple increasingly consumed worldwide.

Asparagus

Asparagus officinalis

A spring shoot of a perennial lily relative, prized for its grassy flavor and tender tips, eaten green, white, or purple.

Bamboo Shoot

Various (Phyllostachys edulis — Mao bamboo; Bambusa spp.; Dendrocalamus spp.)

The edible young growth of bamboo plants — harvested as they emerge from the soil before the shoots harden into woody cane; a staple of East and Southeast Asian cooking, eaten fresh, tinned, or fermented.

Basil

Ocimum basilicum

A fragrant Mediterranean herb central to Italian, Thai, and Vietnamese cuisines — with dozens of varieties from sweet Genovese to lemon to holy Thai basil, each with distinct flavor profiles.

Beetroot

Beta vulgaris

A deep crimson taproot with an earthy, sweet flavor, rich in nitrates and folate; the same plant gives us chard from its leaves.

Bell Pepper

Capsicum annuum

A large, mild, hollow nightshade fruit grown in green, red, yellow, and orange — the same plant changes color with ripeness, the green ones being immature versions of the others.

Bitter Melon

Momordica charantia

A tropical vine vegetable with intensely bitter flesh — the most bitter of all commonly eaten vegetables; used across Asia and the Caribbean for its medicinal properties and its role as a flavour counterpoint to rich, fatty dishes.

Bok Choy

Brassica rapa subsp. chinensis

A Chinese cabbage with crisp white stems and dark green leaves — quick-cooking, mild, and a workhorse of stir-fries, dumpling fillings, and Chinese soups.

Broad Beans

Vicia faba

Ancient beans from the Mediterranean and Middle East — large, flat, pale green beans in thick pods; eaten fresh in spring as a delicacy; dried as dried fava beans, the basis of ful medames, bissara, and dozens of traditional dishes.

Broccoli

Brassica oleracea var. italica

A green flowering brassica with tightly clustered florets, descended from wild Mediterranean cabbage and prized for its fiber and vitamin C.

Brussels Sprouts

Brassica oleracea var. gemmifera

Tiny cabbage-like buds growing along a tall stalk — the most-divisive vegetable of the 20th century, transformed in the 21st through high-heat roasting and dramatic genetic improvement.

Butternut Squash

Cucurbita moschata

A winter squash with smooth tan skin and dense, sweet orange flesh — one of the most versatile and widely eaten squash varieties; roasts to a caramelised sweetness and blends to a silky soup.

Cabbage

Brassica oleracea var. capitata

A leafy brassica forming dense round heads, eaten raw, fermented, or cooked across nearly every cuisine in the temperate world.

Cactus

Opuntia ficus-indica

Edible cactus pads (nopales) and stems from prickly pear and related species — a staple of Mexican cooking, eaten grilled, scrambled with eggs, or in salads.

Camas

Camassia quamash

A North American native bulb that was a major staple food for Plateau and Pacific Northwest indigenous peoples — slow-roasted in earth ovens to convert its complex carbohydrates into intensely sweet caramelized food.

Canna

Canna edulis (now Canna indica)

An edible canna lily — the same showy garden flower whose underground rhizomes were a major Andean food crop, still grown in South America and Asia for starch production.

Caper

Capparis spinosa

The unopened flower bud of the caper bush, pickled or salt-cured to develop its sharp, briny, faintly lemony flavor — an indispensable accent in Mediterranean cooking and classic sauces from piccata to tapenade.

Cardoon

Cynara cardunculus

A wild ancestor of the artichoke — its fleshy leaf stalks are eaten like celery, central to Italian and Spanish winter cuisine, while the artichoke we know is bred from the same species' flower buds.

Carrot

Daucus carota subsp. sativus

A crunchy orange root vegetable rich in beta-carotene, descended from wild purple ancestors and now grown on every continent except Antarctica.

Cassava

Manihot esculenta

A starchy tropical tuber feeding hundreds of millions across Africa, South America, and Asia — calorie-dense and drought-tolerant, but requires careful processing to remove natural cyanide.

Catsear

Hypochaeris radicata

A common dandelion-lookalike weed often called "false dandelion" — its leaves are edible like dandelion (with a milder flavor) and its roots have been roasted as a coffee substitute in foraging traditions.

Cauliflower

Brassica oleracea var. botrytis

A pale, dense flower-bud cluster of the same species as broccoli, marketed in recent years as a low-carb stand-in for grains and starches.

Cavolo Nero

Brassica oleracea var. palmifolia

Black Tuscan kale — the darkest, most robustly flavoured of all kale varieties, with long, deeply crinkled, almost black-green leaves that become sweeter after the first frost; the essential leaf in ribollita and other Tuscan winter soups; more tender and less bitter than curly kale, it is now a staple of artisan cuisine worldwide.

Celeriac

Apium graveolens var. rapaceum

An ugly knobby celery root with creamy off-white flesh — a hidden European winter staple, eaten roasted, mashed, or grated raw into the French classic *céleri rémoulade*.

Celery

Apium graveolens

A pale-green, fibrous, intensely aromatic stalk used as both vegetable and aromatic base — a key member of French *mirepoix* and the *holy trinity* of Cajun cooking.

Celtuce

Lactuca sativa var. asparagina

A Chinese variety of lettuce grown for its thick fleshy stem rather than its leaves — sliced into matchsticks or chunks for stir-fries, with a crispy mild flavor between celery and lettuce.

Chard

Beta vulgaris subsp. cicla

A leafy green relative of beets — eaten for its tender leaves and crunchy stems, with rainbow chard varieties bringing dramatic red, yellow, pink, and orange stem colors to plates.

Chaya

Cnidoscolus aconitifolius

A leafy green from Mexico's Yucatan — once a Mayan staple, with stinging hairs that disappear after 5 minutes of cooking and exceptional protein-and-iron levels making it an emerging "tree spinach" in tropical agriculture.

Chayote Squash

Sechium edule

A pale green Mexican squash with a single seed and crisp watery flesh — a staple across Latin America, the Caribbean, and Asian diasporas, eaten in soups, stir-fries, and salads.

Chickpea

Cicer arietinum

The world's most widely eaten pulse — a round, beige legume cultivated for 10,000 years; the foundation of hummus, dal, chana masala, falafel, and dozens of dishes across the Middle East, Mediterranean, and South Asia.

Chives

Allium schoenoprasum

Slim hollow grass-like onion relatives — the mildest member of the *Allium* family, used as fresh herb garnish for soups, eggs, baked potatoes, and countless other dishes.

Cilantro

Coriandrum sativum

A polarizing fresh herb that's central to Mexican, Indian, Thai, Vietnamese, and Middle Eastern cuisines — and tastes like soap to people with specific olfactory genetics.

Collard Greens

Brassica oleracea var. viridis

Large, flat, dark green brassica leaves with a mild-bitter flavour — slow-braised for hours in the American South with smoked pork until silky; also eaten across Africa, Brazil, and Portugal.

Cucumber

Cucumis sativus

A crisp, watery fruit (botanically) eaten as a vegetable — sliced fresh, pickled, or blended into cold soups, with cooling associations everywhere it grows.

Dabberlocks

Alaria esculenta

A long brown-olive Atlantic seaweed (also called winged kelp or badderlocks) — a traditional Scottish and Icelandic food eaten as a salad green, soup ingredient, or chewy snack.

Daikon

Raphanus sativus var. longipinnatus

A long white winter radish, mildly peppery and crisp, central to East and South Asian cooking — eaten raw, pickled, simmered, and grated as a digestive aid.

Dandelion

Taraxacum officinale

A common lawn weed worldwide that's also a respected leaf vegetable — bitter spring greens used from Italian cucina povera to Korean kimchi to American foragers' first wild green of the year.

Daylily

Hemerocallis fulva

A common ornamental garden flower whose unopened buds and just-opened flowers are a Chinese vegetable — used dried in stir-fries, fresh in salads, and as a thickener in hot-and-sour soup.

Delicata Squash

Cucurbita pepo

A small, oblong, cream-and-green-striped winter squash with thin edible skin and rich sweet flesh — a 1990s revival of a forgotten 1894 American heirloom that's become a fall farmers'-market favorite.

Dill

Anethum graveolens

A feathery aromatic herb that defines Scandinavian, Eastern European, and Eastern Mediterranean cuisine — fresh leaves on cured fish, dried seeds in pickles and breads, and the foundation of Russian and Greek summer cooking.

Dolichos

Lablab purpureus

A purple-podded climbing bean (also called hyacinth bean or lablab) used across South Asian, African, and Caribbean cuisines — both fresh pods and dried beans, with edible flowers and ornamental status as a garden showpiece.

Drumstick

Moringa oleifera

The long pod of the moringa tree (also called moringa pods) — eaten across South Asian and African cuisines as a vegetable, while the leaves of the same tree are a renowned superfood.

Dulse

Palmaria palmata

A purple-red Atlantic seaweed eaten as a salty mineral-rich snack and umami ingredient — Maritime Canadian and Irish-Scottish coastal traditions, with a recently-discovered "tastes like bacon when fried" property.

Eggplant

Solanum melongena

A glossy purple nightshade fruit treated culinarily as a vegetable, central to cuisines from the Mediterranean to South and East Asia.

Endive

Cichorium endivia (curly endive / escarole); Cichorium intybus var. foliosum (Belgian endive)

A chicory-family vegetable with crisp, pale, tightly packed leaves and a pleasant bitterness — Belgian endive is grown in darkness to blanch it white; curly endive (frisée) is the salad green with frilled, pale yellow-green leaves.

Fennel

Foeniculum vulgare

A bulb-and-frond vegetable with a delicate anise flavor — eaten raw in salads, roasted whole, or braised with citrus, and producing seeds used as a fragrant spice.

Garlic

Allium sativum

A pungent bulbous member of the allium family, used worldwide for its sharp aromatic warmth, and one of humanity's oldest cultivated medicinal foods.

Ginger

Zingiber officinale

A pungent, peppery rhizome from a tropical Asian plant — used fresh, dried, candied, or pickled in nearly every cuisine, with strong digestive and anti-nausea uses in folk and modern medicine.

Green Bean

Phaseolus vulgaris

The immature pod of common bean — harvested before the seeds inside develop, eaten whole as a crisp, mild vegetable; one of the most widely grown and versatile vegetables in the world.

Horseradish

Armoracia rusticana

A sharp, eye-watering root in the brassica family — the active ingredient in prepared horseradish and wasabi-style condiments, with chemistry similar to mustard.

Iceberg Lettuce

Lactuca sativa var. capitata

A tightly headed crisphead lettuce with cool, watery, mild leaves — the wedge-salad workhorse, the burger-topping standard, and the most-shipped lettuce in the U.S.

Jalapeño

Capsicum annuum var. jalapeño

Mexico's most recognised chilli pepper — a medium-heat, thick-walled green or red chile with a bright, vegetal flavour, grown in Jalapa, Veracruz, and eaten fresh, pickled, smoked (chipotle), or as nacho topping worldwide.

Japanese Eggplant

Solanum melongena (Japanese cultivars)

A long, slim, deep-purple eggplant with thinner skin and creamier flesh than the globe eggplant — the standard in East Asian cooking, ideal for quick stir-fries and miso preparations.

Jerusalem Artichoke

Helianthus tuberosus

A knobby, nutty tuber unrelated to artichokes and not from Jerusalem — a North American sunflower relative producing crisp, sweet roots eaten roasted, raw, or in soup.

Jicama

Pachyrhizus erosus

A round, brown-skinned tuber with crisp, juicy white flesh, mildly sweet and starchy — eaten raw with chili-lime or chopped into salads, a Mexican market staple.

Kale

Brassica oleracea var. sabellica

A hardy leafy brassica with crinkly or flat dark green leaves, packed with vitamin K and tolerant of cold weather long after other greens have given up.

Kohlrabi

Brassica oleracea var. gongylodes

A swollen-stem cabbage relative — a bulb of crisp white-green flesh that tastes like a sweeter, milder broccoli stem, eaten raw or cooked across Northern European, Indian, and Vietnamese cuisines.

Leek

Allium ampeloprasum

A long, thick-stemmed cousin of onion and garlic — milder, sweeter, and used as both vegetable and aromatic in soups, gratins, and the classic French *vichyssoise*.

Lemongrass

Cymbopogon citratus

A tropical grass with an intensely citrus-lemony fragrance from its stalks — essential in Thai, Vietnamese, Indonesian, and Malaysian cooking; the bottom white section is finely sliced or pounded into pastes, while the whole stalk is used to infuse soups and curries.

Lentil

Lens culinaris

One of humanity's oldest cultivated plants — small lens-shaped legume seeds that cook quickly without soaking, providing exceptional plant protein; the foundation of Indian dal, French lentilles du Puy, and Middle Eastern mujaddara.

Lettuce

Lactuca sativa

A crisp leafy green grown in dozens of varieties from delicate butterhead to crunchy iceberg, the foundation of cold salads everywhere.

Lotus Root

Nelumbo nucifera

The starchy underwater rhizome of the sacred lotus plant — when sliced, each round reveals a beautiful symmetrical pattern of hollow tunnels that allows the plant to transport oxygen to its submerged roots; crispy when stir-fried, chewy when simmered, and prized across East and Southeast Asian cuisines.

Mâche

Valerianella locusta

The tenderest of salad leaves — small, velvety rosettes with a mild, nutty, slightly sweet flavour; a classic French winter salad green harvested when almost everything else in the garden has died back; sold as lamb's lettuce in Britain and corn salad in North America.

Mint

Mentha (genus, multiple species)

A vigorously spreading herb family that flavors everything from Moroccan tea to British roast lamb to Vietnamese spring rolls — with hundreds of varieties of distinctive cooling intensity.

Mung Bean

Vigna radiata

A small green legume native to South Asia — dried mung beans cook quickly and are used in dals and porridges; sprouted they become bean sprouts; split yellow they make the silkiest dal; whole in Ayurvedic cooking they are considered the most easily digestible pulse.

Mushroom

Agaricus bisporus (button, cremini, portobello)

The edible fruiting body of fungi (not technically a vegetable, but treated as one), with hundreds of cultivated and wild species ranging from mild button to umami-rich porcini.

Nettles

Urtica dioica

The sting that becomes a virtue in the pot — stinging nettles are one of Britain's most nutritious wild vegetables, with young spring tips packed with iron, vitamin C, and protein; blanching removes the sting completely and leaves a deep green, earthy leaf used in soups, risotto, pasta, tea, and beer.

Nopal

Opuntia ficus-indica

The flat, paddle-shaped pad of the prickly pear cactus — eaten across Mexico as a vegetable, slicing into salads, stews, and grilled tacos with a slightly tart green flavor.

Okra

Abelmoschus esculentus

A long, ridged green pod with sticky seed-filled interior — central to gumbo, Indian curries, and Levantine stews, with the love-it-or-hate-it characteristic mucilage.

Onion

Allium cepa

A pungent edible bulb that forms the aromatic foundation of cuisines worldwide, with hundreds of varieties from sweet to sulfurous.

Oregano

Origanum vulgare

A pungent Mediterranean herb essential to Italian, Greek, and Mexican cooking — closely related to marjoram but more assertive, with the dried form actually more intense than fresh.

Padrón Pepper

Capsicum annuum 'Padrón'

Small, thin-skinned Spanish peppers from Galicia that are blistered whole in olive oil and served with sea salt — mild and grassy in flavour, but with one famous quirk — roughly one in ten is unexpectedly hot; a classic Spanish tapas dish requiring almost no preparation.

Parsnip

Pastinaca sativa

A pale, sweet, carrot-relative root with a complex herbal flavor — improves dramatically after frost, central to British and Eastern European winter cooking, and unfairly overshadowed by carrots.

Pea

Pisum sativum

Small, round green seeds in a pod — garden peas are one of the most ancient cultivated vegetables, providing a bright, sweet flavour that peaks when eaten minutes after picking; also available as mangetout (sugar snap) and split dried peas.

Perilla

Perilla frutescens

An aromatic herb-leaf with a complex, distinctive flavour somewhere between basil, mint, and anise — red and green varieties are central to Japanese, Korean, and Southeast Asian cuisines; the green variety (*shiso*) wraps sashimi and flavours rice; the red variety colours pickled plums and sesame oil in Japanese cooking.

Potato

Solanum tuberosum

A starchy underground tuber from the Andes that became one of the most important food crops on Earth — the world's fourth-largest staple after rice, wheat, and maize.

Pumpkin

Cucurbita pepo, C. moschata, or C. maxima

A large orange winter squash native to the Americas, with sweet starchy flesh used in soups, pies, and seasonal lattes — and its seeds eaten as a snack.

Quinoa

Chenopodium quinoa

A South American seed crop of an Andean plant related to spinach and beets — a complete protein eaten as a grain-substitute, sacred to the Incas, now globally popular.

Radicchio

Cichorium intybus var. foliosum

A bitter Italian red-leafed chicory eaten in salads, grilled, or roasted — northern Italy's prized winter vegetable, with several distinctive regional varieties protected under European DOP designation.

Radish

Raphanus sativus

A small, crisp, peppery root vegetable in the brassica family, eaten raw with salt and butter, sliced into salads, or roasted to mellow its bite.

Ramp

Allium tricoccum

A wild garlic-onion forest vegetable native to eastern North America — a brief spring season, intense aromatic flavor, and a passionate Appalachian foraging tradition that's gone viral with chef-driven demand.

Rapini

Brassica rapa subsp. rapa

A bitter Italian leafy green with small broccoli-like florets (also called broccoli rabe) — a defining ingredient of southern Italian cuisine, Italian-American sausage sandwiches, and Mediterranean winter cooking.

Red Leaf Lettuce

Lactuca sativa var. crispa

A loose-leaf lettuce variety with deep red-purple leaf tips — used widely in mixed salads, sandwich layers, and decorative plates for its visual contrast against green lettuces.

Ricebean

Vigna umbellata

A small olive-green Indian Himalayan bean — once a major food crop in the Eastern Himalayas, now a "lost crop" being revived for its drought-resilience and unique nutritional profile.

Romanesco

Brassica oleracea (Botrytis Group)

The mathematically perfect vegetable — romanesco broccoli (or Roman cauliflower) forms a head of tightly packed, spiralling chartreuse-green florets that arrange themselves in a precise Fibonacci spiral; each smaller cone is a perfect miniature of the whole, making the vegetable a textbook example of a natural fractal; milder and nuttier in flavour than broccoli or cauliflower, it has become a favourite of chefs for its visual impact.

Rosemary

Salvia rosmarinus (formerly Rosmarinus officinalis)

A pine-scented woody Mediterranean shrub that's beloved in roast meats, breads, and Mediterranean grilling — extraordinarily long-lived and traditionally associated with remembrance.

Runner Bean

Phaseolus coccineus

A long-podded climbing bean from the Mexican highlands — grown across British and Eastern European gardens for its prolific harvest, eaten as fresh long pods rather than dried beans.

Rutabaga

Brassica napus subsp. rapifera

A large yellow-fleshed Scandinavian root vegetable — a hybrid of cabbage and turnip, known as "swede" in Britain and central to Scandinavian, British, and Nordic-influenced cooking.

Salsify

Tragopogon porrifolius (white salsify); Scorzonera hispanica (black salsify)

The "oyster plant" — a long, white-rooted or black-skinned root vegetable that tastes faintly of oysters when cooked; popular in Victorian Britain and 19th-century European cooking, it declined into obscurity in the 20th century but is now experiencing a revival among chefs interested in forgotten vegetables.

Samphire

Salicornia europaea (marsh samphire / glasswort); Crithmum maritimum (rock samphire)

A distinctive sea vegetable with an intense salty, maritime flavour — marsh samphire (glasswort) is a bright green succulent harvested from tidal mudflats in summer, blanched briefly and served with butter and fish; rock samphire has a more pungent, aromatic taste and grows on coastal cliffs.

Scallion

Allium fistulosum and others

Young onions harvested before bulb formation — also called green onions or spring onions, used worldwide as both garnish and primary ingredient, especially in East Asian cooking.

Sea Kale

Crambe maritima

A British coastal native cultivated as a luxury spring vegetable — the young shoots are blanched by covering the crowns in early spring to exclude light, producing ivory-white, tender spears with a mild, nutty, slightly bitter flavour reminiscent of asparagus; once highly prized at Victorian tables, it fell out of fashion but has been revived by chefs and kitchen gardeners seeking heritage vegetables.

Shallot

Allium cepa var. aggregatum

A small, mild, refined onion relative — the preferred onion of French cuisine, with a softer flavor and more delicate texture than common bulb onions.

Snap Pea

Pisum sativum var. macrocarpon

A cross between the garden pea and mangetout — the entire crisp, sweet pod is eaten whole, including the small, developed peas inside; one of the sweetest raw vegetables and a favourite for snacking and stir-frying.

Sorrel

Rumex acetosa (common sorrel); Rumex scutatus (French sorrel)

A sharp, lemony herb-leaf vegetable with one of the most intensely sour tastes in the vegetable garden — its oxalic acid content gives it a flavour like lemon juice with green leafy notes; used in French sorrel soup, as a sauce with fish, wilted with cream, or raw in salads where it cuts through richness.

Spinach

Spinacia oleracea

A leafy green native to ancient Persia, eaten raw or cooked, especially rich in iron, folate, and vitamin K.

Sprouting Broccoli

Brassica oleracea (Italica Group)

The traditional British winter brassica — purple or white sprouting broccoli produces a mass of small, tender florets on long stems throughout late winter and early spring, bridging the hungry gap between root vegetables and summer crops; unlike head broccoli, it is harvested by picking individual spears, which encourages further production; the purple variety is sweeter and more tender than supermarket broccoli.

Sweet Corn

Zea mays var. saccharata

A grain crop bred for high-sugar kernels eaten as a vegetable — derived from teosinte over 9,000 years ago in Mexico, now the staple summer barbecue side dish across the Americas.

100

Sweet Potato

Ipomoea batatas

A starchy, sweet-fleshed tuber unrelated to the common potato, native to Central America and a global staple food crop, especially in tropical and subtropical agriculture.

101

Taro

Colocasia esculenta

A starchy tropical corm eaten across Pacific, Asian, and African cuisines — fundamental to Hawaiian poi, West African fufu, Japanese satoimo, and Filipino ginataang halo-halo.

102

Tarwi

Lupinus mutabilis

An Andean lupin bean with extraordinarily high protein content (over 40%) — a traditional Peruvian and Bolivian staple that requires extensive water-soaking to remove bitter alkaloids before eating.

103

Tatsoi

Brassica rapa var. rosularis

A small Asian green with dark spoon-shaped leaves arranged in a flat rosette — a cousin of bok choy, eaten in salads, stir-fries, and increasingly in Western salad mixes for its distinctive shape and mild mustard flavor.

104

Tepary Bean

Phaseolus acutifolius

A small ancient bean cultivated by indigenous peoples of the Sonoran Desert for over 5,000 years — extreme drought-tolerance, distinctive flavor, and a major comeback in Native American food sovereignty movements.

105

Tigernut

Cyperus esculentus

A wrinkled brown tuber (not actually a nut) eaten as a snack across Africa and the Mediterranean — and the foundation of Spain's beloved horchata de chufa, dating back to Moorish-era Valencia.

106

Tomatillo

Physalis philadelphica

A small green papery-husked Mexican fruit-vegetable that's the foundation of salsa verde, mole verde, and the green chile cuisine of central Mexico — tart, citrus-like, distinctly different from a tomato despite the name.

107

Tomato

Solanum lycopersicum

A sweet-tart nightshade berry, botanically a fruit, treated culinarily as a vegetable, and the foundation of cuisines from Italy to Mexico.

108

Tree Onion

Allium × proliferum

A perennial onion variety (also called walking onion or topset onion) that produces small bulbs at the top of its flower stalks — drooping under their own weight to plant new bulbs nearby, "walking" across the garden.

109

Turmeric

Curcuma longa

A bright orange-yellow rhizome from a tropical Asian plant — fundamental to South Asian and Southeast Asian cuisine, the source of curry's golden color, and the focus of an enormous global "anti-inflammatory" supplement industry.

110

Turnip

Brassica rapa subsp. rapa

A peppery, white-and-purple root vegetable common in Northern European cooking — predating potatoes as a staple, with leaves (turnip greens) eaten as a separate vegetable across the American South.

111

Ulluco

Ullucus tuberosus

A small, brightly colored Andean tuber — pink, yellow, red, or speckled — eaten across Peru, Bolivia, and Ecuador for its waxy, slightly mucilaginous flesh and earthy sweetness.

112

Urad Bean

Vigna mungo

A small black-skinned cream-fleshed lentil (also called black gram) — the foundation of South Indian cuisine, the protein in dosa and idli batters, and the dal in dal makhani.

113

Vidalia Onion

Allium cepa (Granex variety)

A sweet onion grown only in 20 designated counties of southeast Georgia — its mildness and low sulfur produced by the local soil's unique low-sulfur chemistry.

114

Wasabi

Eutrema japonicum (syn. Wasabia japonica)

Japan's fiery green condiment — not a chilli heat but a sharp, volatile, nasal-clearing pungency from isothiocyanates that hits instantly and dissipates quickly; true wasabi is the grated rhizome of a semi-aquatic Japanese plant; the green paste served in most Western sushi restaurants is imitation wasabi made from horseradish, mustard, and food colouring.

115

Water Chestnut

Eleocharis dulcis

An aquatic vegetable grown in muddy ponds — a small, round corm with crisp, white flesh that retains its crunch even after cooking; a key ingredient in Chinese stir-fries, dumpling fillings, and Southeast Asian desserts.

116

Watercress

Nasturtium officinale

A peppery aquatic green growing wild in cold streams across Eurasia and the Americas, eaten in sandwiches, salads, and soups, and ranked the most nutrient-dense vegetable on Earth.

117

Wild Garlic

Allium ursinum

The woodland carpet of spring — wild garlic (*ramsons*) carpets British and European deciduous woodland floors from March to May, filling the air with garlic scent before the tree canopy closes; every part is edible, from the leaves and stems to the white star-shaped flowers; it is the most aromatic of Britain's edible wild plants and is now widely foraged for restaurant kitchens.

118

Xigua

Citrullus lanatus

The Chinese name for watermelon (西瓜, "western melon"), often listed under X for letter-game purposes — a refreshing cucurbit treated as a vegetable in some Chinese cooking applications.

119

Yam

Dioscorea spp.

A starchy tuber from the genus Dioscorea, native to Africa and Asia, larger and drier than sweet potatoes — the actual yam, not the orange-fleshed American imposter.

120

Yao Choy

Brassica rapa var. parachinensis

A Chinese leaf-and-stem vegetable (also called yu choy, choy sum) with bright green leaves and pale stems, beloved in Cantonese cooking — quick stir-fried or blanched, with a distinctive sweet-mustard flavor.

121

Yardlong Bean

Vigna unguiculata subsp. sesquipedalis

A heat-tolerant pod bean reaching 30-50 cm long — beloved across Chinese, Thai, Filipino, and Indian cuisines, eaten quick-cooked rather than long-stewed for its distinctive crunch.

122

Yarrow

Achillea millefolium

A wild and cultivated medicinal herb — sometimes used as a salad green and bitter herb, more famously known for its 5,000-year history as a wound-healing plant and traditional flavoring agent in pre-hops beer.

123

Yuca Root

Manihot esculenta

The starchy tuberous root of the cassava plant — a global staple crop feeding over 800 million people under different names worldwide, from Latin America's yuca frita to Nigeria's fufu to Brazil's pão de queijo.

124

Yukon Gold Potato

Solanum tuberosum 'Yukon Gold'

A golden-fleshed Canadian hybrid potato variety renowned for its buttery flavor and creamy texture that needs little enrichment — a cook's favorite for mashing, roasting, and potato salads.

125

Zucchini

Cucurbita pepo

A summer squash with thin green skin and tender white flesh, harvested young; mild-flavored and absorbent of whatever it's cooked with.

About this vegetables index

That's our current full list of vegetables. We add new entries every week — if there's a vegetable you'd like us to cover, let us know and we'll write it up.

Looking for something specific? Filter by letter above, or jump into one of the other categories.