Fascinating Facts about Veggies
Did you know? 
• Your veggies will start losing their nutritional value immediately after they are picked from your veggie patch! One way of preserving all their valuable nutrients is to freeze the veggies straight after they are picked.
• For green veggies, ones that are darker green contain more vitamin C than the lighter green veggies!
• A lot of people think potatoes are the most eaten veggie. However, potatoes are not eaten in Asia very much and since Asia makes up most of the world’s population, it’s the soybean that is the most eaten veggie in the world!
• Capsicums not only taste great, but are also an excellent source of vitamin C. The green ones contain as much as double the vitamin C of oranges. The red and yellow ones contain even more!
• One serving of freshly frozen peas has more vitamin C than two large apples!
• Some people used to think that pumpkins could remove the freckles from our face and cure snakebites. Of course, pumpkins can’t do those things, but they are very low in calories making them a very healthy part of any meal.
• The largest pumpkin ever grown weighed more than 600kg! Wow! That’s enough to feed someone for about 3 years. After one year they would want to eat something other than just pumpkin!
• There are over 500 different types of onions and all of them make us cry! Onions that are older make us cry even more!
• It’s the gas in an onion that makes us cry and not the smell! As we chop up the onion, the gas reacts with our eyes and makes us cry our eyes out.
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Quick Facts!
- Tomatoes are actually classified as a fruit and were originally thought of as a type of apple!
- Native to South America.
- Tomatoes were originally yellow, but through plant selection and development they became red.
- 120-150 days harvest time.
- 15-20kg/m2 yield.
- Scientific name: Lycopersicon esculentum
Did you know?
Each year near Valencia, Spain, a festival of the tomato, known as La Tomatina, is held. Men and women gather in the town square of Bunol and engage in a ferocious food fight involving over one hundred tonnes of over-ripe fruit. In case you were worried about the waste of food, all the La Tomatina tomatoes are grown locally in an area that makes them too bitter to eat.
Quick Facts!
- The tallest bean plant ever grown was nearly 15 metres tall!
- Beans are one of the oldest veggies.
- There are over 4000 different types of beans.
- Broad beans are the oldest type of bean and were discovered growing wildly in the Himalaya mountains and in Afghanistan.
- Beans can be eaten raw, cooked or dried.
- 65-100 days harvest time.
- 2kg/m2 yield.
- Scientific name: Phaseolus vulgaris.
Did you know?
Beans can either grow in a bush on the ground or on a climbing vine. An example of a climbing vine is the one Jack climbs up in Jack and the Beanstalk.
Quick Facts!
- Potatoes are high in carbohydrates so they are a great source of energy.
- Potatoes are one of the most eaten veggies on Earth.
- On average, we each eat about 33kg of potatoes every year.
- You should never eat the leaves of the potato plant. They are poisonous and can make you feel sick.
- 120-150 days harvest time.
- 3kg/m2 yield.
- Scientific name: Solanum tuberosum.
Did you know?
We have been eating potatoes for nearly 10,000 years and they are one of the oldest veggies originating in South America!
Quick Facts!
- We have been eating broccoli for over 2000 years and we are now eating nine times the amount of broccoli we were 20 years ago!
- With lots of vitamin C, broccoli is one of the most nutritious veggies.
- Broccoli is from the cabbage family of plants.
- Broccoli originally came from Italy.
- 90-120 days harvest time.
- 6-12kg/m2.
- Scientific name: Brassica oleracea.
Did you know?
Broccoli evolved from a wild cabbage plant on the continent of Europe and is very popular in Italian culture. The Roman Empire thought it a valuable food source, and it was Italians who introduced it to the Americas where it was given its common name, broccoli.
Quick Facts!
- 80-100 days harvest time.
- 10 cobs/m2 yield.
- Scientific name: Zea mays.
Quick Facts!
- Snow peas are loaded with vitamin K, which helps our bones stay nice and strong!
- Peas are seeds, so they are biologically considered a fruit.
- Boiling or steaming makes peas sweeter and more nutritional.
- 80-90 days harvest time.
- 1-5kg/m2 yield.
- Scientific name: Pisum sativum.
Did you know?
The first peas that were picked were prepared dry and used in soups, but today the most common way to consume peas is to boil or steam them, which makes them sweeter.
Quick Facts!
- Carrots are high in vitamin A, which helps with night time vision!
- Carrots have been around for a long time. Even the ancient Egyptians grew them!
- Native to Europe and Southwest Asia.
- 60-130 days harvest time.
- 2-3kg/m2 yield.
- Scientific name: Daucus carota.
Did you know?
Carrots were not always orange. They were originally purple or white, but through selection and development by humans they became orange.
Quick Facts!
- The cauliflower is in the same family as broccoli, cabbage and brussels sprout.
- 130-170 days harvest time.
- 6-9kg/m2 yield.
- Scientific name: Brassica oleracea.
Did you know?
The word 'cauliflower' means 'cabbage flower'.
Quick Facts!
- Brussels sprouts have one of the highest levels of vitamin C compared to any other veggie!
- Brussels sprout is in the same family as cauliflower, broccoli and cabbage.
- 100-140 days harvest time.
- 60-70 sprouts/plant yield.
- Scientific name: Brassica oleracea.
Did you know?
When Brussels sprouts are overcooked they release an odour that affects their taste. That’s why they have got such a bad reputation as being yukky! When you cook them right they are delicious and nutritious.
Quick Facts!
- 55-140 days harvest time.
- 3kg/m2 yield.
- Scientific name: Beta vulgaris.
Did you know?
Beetroot is often used as a food dye to enrich the colour in tomato sauce, ice creams, jams and jellies.