Vegetables

The tomato is botanically a fruit but culinarily treated as a vegetable. Tomatoes are rich in lycopene (a powerful antioxidant), vitamin C a...

Garlic is one of the most universally used flavourings in world cuisine. The characteristic pungent aroma and flavour develop through the en...

Cooks know The button mushroom well — the most cultivated mushroom in the world and a staple in commercial kitchens. There are three ripenin...

The onion is, together with garlic and carrot, the foundation of almost every classic sauce, soup and braise. Onions contain quercetin (anti...

Nori is dried and toasted seaweed of the species Porphyra yezoensis or Porphyra tenera. It is cultivated in estuaries along the Japanese, Ko...

Bell pepper is botanically a fruit and belongs to the nightshade family. In commercial kitchens, sweet peppers are primarily used: red (full...

Tofu is coagulated soybean curd, produced by soaking, grinding, cooking soybeans and coagulating the milk with nigari (magnesium chloride),...

Broccoli — a cruciferous vegetable exceptionally rich in vitamin K vitamin C, folate and glucosinolates. The characteristic green colour is...

The carrot is one of the most used vegetables in commercial kitchens and forms, together with onion and celery, the foundation of the classi...

Hard to imagine a kitchen without Spinach — a leafy vegetable known as a rich source of iron and calcium although oxalic acid partially bloc...

Hard to imagine a kitchen without Celeriac — the thickened root of the celery plant with a distinctive earthy flavour and a slightly herbal...

Open any well-stocked walk-in and chances are you will find Beetroot — a root vegetable with a deep red to purple colour caused by betalain...

For the working chef, Pumpkin/squash needs no introduction: an umbrella term for various Cucurbita species used in commercial kitchens. The...

Open any well-stocked walk-in and chances are you will find Fennel Bulb — the swollen leaf sheath of the fennel plant distinct from herb fen...

Day in, day out, The artichoke delivers: the immature flowerhead of a thistle-like plant from the Compositae family. The edible parts consis...

White asparagus grows underground in earthed-up ridges preventing chlorophyll formation, keeping it white. The Netherlands and Germany are t...

Courgette is one of the most widely used summer vegetables in commercial kitchens. It is a young, immature squash harvested before the outer...

Brussels sprouts are the small leaf buds that grow along the stalk of the sprout plant. They belong to the cruciferous family, like broccoli...

Green asparagus grows above ground and develops chlorophyll through sunlight, which gives it its green colour and a more intense, grassy fla...

On the line, you will often reach for Aubergine / Eggplant — a nightshade vegetable with a unique spongy flesh structure that absorbs large...

Stock your walk-in with Pak Choi / Bok Choy — a Chinese cabbage variety with broad white or light green stems and dark green leaves. The pla...

Fennel — a versatile vegetable with a characteristic anise flavour given its anethole content. The plant consists of three usable parts: the...

Cooks reach for Belgian Endive / Chicory because it delivers as a quintessentially Belgian-Dutch product grown in the dark to prevent chloro...

Celery is one of the fundamental aromatic vegetables in commercial kitchens and a go-to in the classic mirepoix (together with onion and car...

Shiitake — an edible mushroom of East Asian origin, native to the shii tree (Castanopsis). Shiitake contain lentinan (a beta-glucan polysacc...

Leek sits firmly among the kitchen standards as a bulb vegetable from the Alliaceae family (together with onion and garlic) with a milder sw...

In any well-stocked kitchen, There earns its place: a reason Romanesco shows up on so many prep lists: it is a cabbage variety botanically r...

On the line, Parsnip holds its place as a creamy-white root vegetable from the Apiaceae family with a sweet nutty flavour that intensifies a...

Black salsify — a black-skinned root vegetable with a white, juicy interior and a mild, slightly bitter flavour reminiscent of artichoke and...

Asparagus holds a special status in the culinary traditions of the Netherlands and Belgium. White asparagus grows underground, shielded from...

Day in, day out, There delivers: a reason Kohlrabi shows up on so many prep lists: it is a variety of common cabbage in which the leaf stem...

Pick up Rocket / Arugula and you have a leafy vegetable from the Brassicaceae family,closely related to mustard and radish. The characterist...

Red cabbage owes its characteristic colour to anthocyanins, water-soluble pigments that react to pH: in an acidic environment (vinegar, appl...

Open any pickle jar in a professional kitchen and you are looking at the gherkin — a small cucumber variety harvested young and preserved in...

From bistro to banquet hall, Sweetcorn earns its spot as the young sweet variety of maize consumed as a vegetable, as opposed to grain maize...

Savoy cabbage distinguishes itself from ordinary white cabbage through its crinkled, curled leaves and a considerably milder, sweeter flavou...

For the working chef, The garden radish needs no introduction: a bulb vegetable from the Brassicaceae family, related to mustard, kohlrabi a...

Day in, day out, There delivers: a reason Watercress shows up on so many prep lists: it is an aquatic plant from the Brassicaceae family wit...

Runner/French beans are young bean pods harvested before seed formation, in contrast to dried beans where the seeds ripen. They are the most...

Stock your walk-in with Curly Endive / Escarole — a leafy vegetable from the Asteraceae family with a characteristic mildly bitter flavour d...

Few ingredients rival Sorrel when it comes to being an herbaceous leafy vegetable with a pronounced sour citrus flavour derived from oxalic...

In any well-stocked kitchen, Portobello earns its place: the fully grown, large-format variant of the common button mushroom. When a mushroo...

Open any well-stocked walk-in and chances are you will find Oyster Mushroom — a cultivated edible mushroom with a fan- or oyster-shaped cap...

Cep / porcini is one of the most prized edible mushrooms in the world, with an intense nutty, earthy umami flavour. The thick, white flesh h...

Morels are luxury spring mushrooms with a honeycomb-like, conical cap and hollow flesh. They are regarded as one of the most flavourful and...

Shallot — a finer and more complex onion variety with a milder subtler flavour than ordinary onion, with light garlicky undertones. Shallots...

Sugar snap peas are a pod vegetable in which both the pod and the young peas are edible. The pod is crunchy, thick and sweet; the peas insid...

Pointed Cabbage / Sweetheart Cabbage — a variety of white cabbage with a pointed, elongated head and thin, tender leaves. The flavour is con...

Stock your walk-in with Jerusalem Artichoke / Sunchoke — a knobbly tuber of an American sunflower species. The name "Jerusalem artichoke" is...

Turnip sits firmly among the kitchen standards as a small round root vegetable with a white to cream or purple-red skin and white, mildly ju...

Chinese cabbage, sometimes called Napa cabbage or pe-tsai, is an elongated, light green to white cabbage with soft, watery leaves and a mild...

Kale — a non-heading cabbage variety with dark green heavily crinkled or bubbly leaves. It is one of the most nutrient-dense vegetables: ric...

When prep begins, The olive is right there: the drupe of the olive tree, cultivated in the Mediterranean region for more than 7,000 years. R...

Kombu is dried giant kelp with the highest glutamic acid content of any food: 2,240mg per 100g dry weight. This makes kombu the absolute sou...

For the working chef, Daikon needs no introduction: the large white radish central to Japanese cuisine: 30–60cm long, 0.5–1.5kg. The flavour...

Edamame are young soybeans harvested before they ripen and harden. The name literally means "branch soybean" (eda = branch, mame = bean). Th...

Enoki are long, slender, white-yellow mushrooms that grow in clusters on winter trees. The cultivated variety is almost white due to lack of...

Wakame is dark green seaweed with a delicate, soft texture and a fresh, lightly briny flavour. It is the most consumed seaweed outside nori...

Behind the pass, Renkon is known as the underwater rhizome of the lotus plant. Cutting it reveals a characteristic pattern of 9–11 air holes...

Cucumber consists of approximately 96% water and has a fresh, lightly bitter flavour characteristic of the Mediterranean kitchen repertoire....

Kimchi (김치) is fermented Chinese cabbage (baechu) rubbed with a paste of gochugaru, garlic, ginger, spring onion, fish paste (jeotgal) and...

Spring onion, sometimes called green onion or scallion, is one of the most widely used vegetables in Korean cuisine. In Korean: pa (파). The...

Shallots are the most widely used allium in the professional French kitchen. Finer and sweeter than onion, with a more complex flavour profi...

Haricots verts are the slender, fine French variety of green beans. Maximum 6–8mm thick and 15cm long: much finer than the rounder Dutch run...

The champignon de Paris has earned its reputation — the most widely used mushroom in classic French cuisine. Despite the name, they are bare...