A huge volume of micro-minerals and vitamins stored by the plant! I love the synergy of vegetables and fruit. By this, I mean the skin, seeds, flesh and all. The pumpkin and squash family show this beautifully. Roasted pumpkin in its skin is tasty and full of textures. Roasted pumpkin seeds added as a snack or on a salad are delicious and BINGO the whole vegetable has been consumed with all of its nutritional benefits – zinc, beta-carotene and omega 6. Seeds can be likened to a power pack! Singularly, a seed has produced a plant, a flower, a specific vegetable and therefore more seeds (for the next generation of plant or our consumption). The flesh is fibrous, flavoursome and nutritious. And the skin, this is where we see Clever Food - just under the skin a majority of nutrients and photo-chemicals are stored. Potatoes and their skins are another great example of how consuming the entire vegetable can give us so much more (and reduce household waste). The skin (and just under it) is rich in zinc, soluble fibre, vitamin C, potassium, iron and zinc. A quick nutritional win is to roast, mash, stuff, chip or wedge your potatoes with skins and eat. The same can be said about eating the stalk of the broccoli as well as the florets. The leafy surrounds of the cauliflower and carrot stalks. Chopped finely these last two can be mashed or added to a curry, soup or casserole etc. As we can see, Nature has provided us with food that harnesses the nutrients from the soil, the weather and the water it is fed – The slogan, ‘Food is what It eats’ springs to mind. If we grow produce in an organic, magnesium rich soil we will produce organic, magnesium rich food. And the opposite is also correct. If we harvest fruit and vegetables from a soil conditioned with commercial fertilizers and pesticides they too will be rich with these chemicals. There is some common sense to this for example, grated citrus rind is fabulous for flavouring but difficult to consume otherwise. So, how best to eat our produce. If it’s organic, eat it all (or as much as possible). If its not organic, peel it (by removing the skin, we also remove some of the stored chemicals). If its soft fruit or vegetables like strawberries, blueberries, grapes, stone-fruit and mushrooms, eat organic. Nature provides whole food, it depends what we do with it as to whether we eat whole food.
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AuthorPaula is an avid writer and enjoys working with food and words. Archives
August 2022
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