Leaf vegetable

Leaf vegetable

A leaf vegetable, also known as a leafy green, salad green, pot herb, vegetable leaf, or simply a leaf, is a plant of which the leaves are eaten as a vegetable, sometimes accompanied by tender petioles and shoots. Although they come from a very wide variety of plants, most share a great deal with other leaf vegetables in nutrition and cooking methods.

Classification

Nearly one thousand species of plants with edible leaves are known. Leaf vegetables most often come from short-lived herbaceous plants, such as lettuce and spinach. Woody plants of which the leaves are eaten include Adansonia, Arctium and Prunus. Among the more important large annual leaf vegetables are the cabbage, spinach, and lettuce.

Nutritional value

Leaf vegetables are typically low in calories, low in fat, high in protein per calorie, high in dietary fiber, high in iron and calcium, and very high in phytochemicals such as vitamin C, carotenoids, lutein, and folic acid as well as Vitamin K.

Preparation

Some leaf vegetables can be consumed raw, some may be eaten raw but are more palatable when cooked, and others must be cooked in order to be edible. Leaf vegetables typically have a distinctive aroma when cooked.

See also

• List of leaf vegetables
• Salad
• Vegetable
• Herb

References

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External links

• FAO report on leafy vegetables
• FAO report on traditional leafy vegetables

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