Some Fun Facts About Vegetables

We all know that vegetables are good for health and some of them are our favorites. However, there are some interesting facts about vegetables that we may not know. For instance, most of us think that watermelon is a fruit, but they are actually vegetables and they belong to the cucumber, pumpkin family. The largest watermelon in the world weighs more than 260 pounds. 

There is another fun fact about thymes. In England, thymes are planted in large patches. It is believed that the fairies would play in the patches. We know that carrots are rich in Vitamin A. They can help us to see better in darkness and can prevent night blindness. It is better to use frozen vegetables that are picked and packaged on the same day. Fresh vegetables reach the super market long time after they have been picked. Hence, they may loose some essential nutrients.

Most of us use bell peppers that are green in color. However, they are also available in red, purple or yellow colors. The important nutrients in potatoes reside below the skin layer, so it is advisable to cook potatoes with skin. There are two common types of peas- snow peas and snap peas. Snap peas are allowed to grow well, so we can eat inside the peas either raw or cooked. Many people like to eat beets. However, most of them do not know the top green leaves of the beets are edible and they are the most nutritious part of beets. We can boil the leaves lightly and eat.

Onions add taste and flavor to any recipes. When we onions, tears come out of our eyes. The reason is that the onion releases amino acid sulfides, when we cut. These acids turn to sulfenic acids, which mix with enzymes from the onion. This leads to create a sulfuric chemical called propanethiol S-oxide. It comes into contact with our eyes and causes an itching sensation. Our eyes release tears in response to that burning sensation. However, when we cook onions, the enzyme is inactivated by the heat, so our eyes do not release tears.

We can wear safety goggles when we cut the onion. This can prevent crying. We can keep onion in the fridge for a few minutes and can cut them. Rinsing the onions in water before cutting can also prevent crying. We can run a fan while cutting onions. The air from fan pulls the sulphuric gas and helps to avoid tears.