Preparation

Overview of Veggie Preparation:

Vegetables are quite versatile when it comes to preparation.  They may be eaten raw, cooked, pickled, juiced, or consumed in the form of tea.  Some vegetables even come up as ingredients in alcoholic beverages.

We are accustomed to having them in appetizers, as part of a dip mix, or as an element in soups or stews.  They are also the most familiar accompaniment to an animal or plant based protein.  Generally, we recognize them on the savory side of things.

Certain standard salad veggies work just as well when cooked, and some that are usually eaten cooked taste perfectly fine when served raw.  A few good examples of this include cucumbers and beets.  Yes, cucumbers can be cooked.  If you give them a good boil, they taste similar to zucchini.  Beets present a bit of a challenge to peel when raw, but once sliced or shredded become a nice addition to most any salad.

Plenty of vegetables also have the capability for use as a component in dessert.  The first few that come to mind involve the unassuming carrot, the bright red stalks of rhubarb, with sweet potatoes and yams known as strong holiday favorites.  All may be easily used in cakes, pies or other sweet treat types of dishes, but botanically they are still veggies.

These days produce has the ability to play many different roles in our culinary choices.  With wise preparation, we can conveniently find creative ways to glean the wonderful health benefits of vegetables.