Roots as Vegetables: Growing Practices and Food Uses

By Roby Jose Ciju

Root vegetables are those vegetables where edible portion of the plant is a modified storage root. Popular root vegetables are carrots, beetroots, rutabaga, turnips, radish, sweet potatoes and cassava. Parsnips and Hamburg parsley are also root vegetables.

• Language: English
• Publisher: agrihortico
• Release date: Mar 18, 2021
• ISBN: 9781005314026

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Roots as Vegetables: An Introduction

Root vegetables are those vegetables where edible portion of the plant is a modified storage root. Popular root vegetables are carrots, beetroots, rutabaga, turnips, radish, sweet potatoes and cassava. Parsnips and Hamburg parsley are also root vegetables.

Among the above-mentioned vegetables, cassava and sweet potatoes are considered as staple foods as well elsewhere in the world. Cassava or tapioca (Manihot esculenta) and sweet potato (Ipomoea batatas) are tropical vegetables whereas carrot, beetroot, radish, rutabaga, and turnip are considered as vegetables of temperate and subtropical regions.

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Figure 1: Root vegetables

Some people categorise yam or dioscorea (Dioscorea spp.), potato (Solanum tuberosum), elephant foot yam (Amorphophallus spp.), taro or colocasia (Colocasia esculenta) and tannia (Xanthosoma sagittifolium) also as root vegetables. In fact, these are not root vegetables. In potato, the edible portion is a modified underground stem or a stem tuber where as in yams and taro, the edible portion is corms or modified storage stems. Some even go to the extent to include onions and garlics also in the category of root vegetables. Remember, onions and garlics are ‘bulb vegetables’ and a bulb is a modified underground stem.

Similarly, ginger and turmeric are also not root vegetables. Edible portion in ginger and turmeric are known as ‘rhizomes’ and a rhizome is a modified underground stem.

Now let us learn about various root vegetables in detail in this small book. The list of the popular root vegetables is given below as a quick reference:

As we know, major source of carbohydrates in our diet is cereals such as wheat, rice, maize, and barley and therefore these foods are consumed as our staple foods. However, root crops such as cassava and sweet potatoes are also found to be an excellent source of carbohydrates. So in many tropical countries, especially in poor and developing countries, tuber crops such as cassava and sweet potatoes are consumed as staples owing to the fact that these vegetables are less expensive than many staple food items and at the same time, these crops are high in nutritional value also. However, sometimes, food preparations with root vegetables may be deficient in proteins. Therefore often such foods are eaten with protein-rich fish and meat preparations.

In many African and Asian countries, root crops are an important component of many traditional food preparations. For example, a particular breakfast food prepared from cassava tubers (locally known as ‘kappa biriyani’) is a highly popular ethnic food preparation in South India. This ‘kappa biriyani’ is often eaten with fish curry or meat preparations in order to compensate any protein deficiency in the food. In Brazil and in many other African countries also, cassava is used as a staple food.

In fact, root crops are easy to cultivate as compared to other food crops. These crops can easily be grown as a garden crop and also as a commercial crop. A detailed account of food uses and cultivation practices of these root crops is given in the following chapters.

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Figure 2: Beetroot vegetable

Cassava or Tapioca

Cassava is a tropical tuber crop mainly grown for its edible starchy storage roots. Cassava tubers are an excellent source of carbohydrates and therefore used as a staple food in many African and Asian countries. In these countries, cassava is an important source of food carbohydrates and therefore it is grown as an important cash crop. Cassava tubers are used as a root vegetable also. Tender, young shoots and leaves of cassava plant are used as a leafy vegetable in some countries. Cassava leaves are a good source of protein. Cassava is considered as a ‘Food Security’ crop in times of famine and food insecurity.

Cassava is also known as tapioca, yuca, manioc, mandioca, and Brazilian arrowroot. There is an ornamental plant called ‘yucca’. Cassava or yuca should not be confused with ornamental yucca.

Production Centers: Nigeria, Thailand,