Asparagus
A spring shoot of a perennial lily relative, prized for its grassy flavor and tender tips, eaten green, white, or purple.
25 vegetables containing the letter P — each with origin, classification, and notes.
Below are vegetables that contain the letter P anywhere in the name. Each of the 25 vegetables below opens to a full profile.
A spring shoot of a perennial lily relative, prized for its grassy flavor and tender tips, eaten green, white, or purple.
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.
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.
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.
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.
A glossy purple nightshade fruit treated culinarily as a vegetable, central to cuisines from the Mediterranean to South and East Asia.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
A leafy green native to ancient Persia, eaten raw or cooked, especially rich in iron, folate, and vitamin K.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Try vegetables that start with P, or end with P. Or browse the full vegetables index.