Underground Vegetables: Advantages and Disadvantages

Root veggies are underground plant portions that humans consume as food. Although botany distinguishes real roots (such as taproots and tuberous roots) from non-roots (such as bulbs, corms, rhizomes, and tubers, some of which contain both hypocotyl and taproot tissue), in agricultural and culinary usage, the phrase “root vegetable” refers to all of these types (see terminology of vegetables).

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Root vegetables: Useful minerals

Typically, the storage organs in root vegetables have been enlarged to store energy in the form of carbs. They differ in terms of starches, sugars, and other types of carbohydrates’ concentration and balance. 

Starchy root vegetables are important staple foods, especially in tropical areas, and they outnumber cereals in much of Central Africa, West Africa, and Oceania where they are used either directly or mashed to make foods like fufu or poi. Foods with a high starch content are particularly important economically.

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Root vegetables: Preservation

In root cellars, many root vegetables persist for several months. This is one method of preserving food for use long after harvest, which is crucial in no tropical latitudes where harvesting is typically minimal or non-existent throughout the winter. Additionally, there are season extension techniques that, mostly through the use of polytunnels, can extend the harvest throughout the winter.

Root vegetables: Examples

Fennel, onions, corms (celery root, water chestnut), ginger, turmeric, tap roots (beets, carrots, parsnips), tuberous roots (sweet potatoes, yucca), and tubers are some examples of these plant parts (potatoes, yams).

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Root vegetables: Advantages

Root veggies are high in antioxidants and low in calories. Every one of them is packed with several vitamins and minerals. Some have unusually high concentrations of nutrients. For instance:

• A medium baked sweet potato provides only 103 calories and 1,096 micrograms (mcg) of vitamin A, which is enough to meet your complete RDA for the day (for people 51 and over, that’s 700 mcg for women and 900 mcg for men).

• Carrots are also high in vitamin A, with a cup of diced raw carrots providing 1,069 mcg.

• A cup of mashed turnips contains 51 calories and 76 milligrams (mg) of calcium, which is equivalent to half a slice of cheddar cheese.

• A medium-baked russet potato (skin included) contains 164 calories and 935 mg of potassium (more than twice the potassium of a medium-sized banana).

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Root vegetables: Disadvantages

• The majority of root vegetables contain starches, which are a type of carbohydrate that the body converts to glucose for energy. For instance, a medium baked sweet potato has 24 grams of carbs and a baked russet potato has 37 grams.
• Consuming more carbohydrates than your body requires will result in fat storage and weight increase.
• Your blood sugar can rise if you eat too many carbohydrates at once.
• Blood sugar increases on a regular basis can increase your risk of getting diabetes and make managing it more challenging if you already have it.

However, certain root vegetables contain fewer carbohydrates than others. For instance, a large cooked onion has 13 grams of carbohydrates, whereas a cup of diced raw carrots only has 12 grams.

The method used to prepare root vegetables could also be problematic. You probably add butter and other harmful things to your mashed potatoes. Or perhaps you add sour cream and bacon bits to a baked potato. And it’s really simple to overeat, which leads to consuming a lot of calories that aren’t particularly filling.

Root vegetables: How should you proceed?

Root veggies are still vibrant, healthy whole foods that are packed with nutrients. You’re better off eating a mix of things for excellent health.

If you’re in good health, you probably can consume one serving of root vegetables every day. Just be certain that it’s a side dish or a component of another dish, and that it’s the only starch on your plate.

Avoid eating a plate of sweet potatoes and a serving of rice.

Eat a variety of root veggies to acquire a larger diversity of nutrients, and avoid eating the same ones repeatedly. Try Jerusalem artichokes, yams, turnips, yucca (cassava), beets, or radishes.

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Try boiling, mashing, baking, roasting with a little olive oil, or tossing them into soups and casseroles if you’re seeking simple methods to prepare root veggies. 

As an alternative, you might use root veggies in inventive ways by following a food trend. Using unusual cooking techniques (such as braising, grilling, or searing) and then combining the vegetables with intriguing flavours is the key. 

Think about miso-glazed turnips, grilled carrots with yoghurt and pecans, or Jerusalem artichokes with shallots and toasted hazelnuts.

You might soon discover that root veggies are much more interesting if you use a little ingenuity.

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