The Garden Vegetable Identification Quiz

Tomato lovers would know that there are so many varieties of tomatoes all over the world, starting from the very small-sized to the larger ones. The really small and cute ones usually tossed in a salad are called cherry tomatoes while the large ones you see included inside sandwiches are called the heirloom kind.

Carrots are generally orange in color, as we have always seen in kitchens, cuisines, the media, and pop culture shows. But there are actually some varieties of carrots that defy this color scheme, like the purple, white, and yellow kind, all with good nutritional value like the orange one.

In many parts of the world, the flower head part of the broccoli is the one that’s always consumed. But in other parts of the world, even the green leaves that come with the flowery head are also consumed and cooked just like any other leafy green veggies.

Corn is one of the most viable crops in the whole world, simply because it transforms into other forms that get mixed in various culinary products, such as corn syrup. But we all know and love its original form from the cob, where we can eat it with gusto, alone or as a side treat to major meaty meals.

There's a variety of lettuce that doesn't form into "heads" and is referred to as leaf lettuce, that's why there are different varieties you see in the market. There's also the romaine kind, as well as the butterhead variety which, unlike the iceberg kind, features looser leaves.

Eggplants are generally elongated in size and purple in color, but different varieties exist, also depending on which part of the globe they are cultivated. For example, you can see the Thai eggplant as a tomato-sized green veggie while there is also a variety called the green apple that, coincidentally, really looks like an apple from the outside. The Indian eggplant is rounded as well, but purple, while the Italian heirloom kind has mixed streaks of purple and white along its oval shape.

An onion releases a chemical that irritates the eyes; that's why it makes us cry when we slice and dice 'em. The best tip to stop this is to slice it while it's submerged in water, like in a deep bowl, so that the gas-like chemical won't get released in the air and gets trapped in the water.

Garlic is some kind of magic ingredient that helps eliminate many human body illnesses. It has been proven as a great cure to relieve the common cold, as well as helps lower the levels of someone's blood pressure and cholesterol levels.

Potatoes are very versatile veggies since they can be converted into a variety of forms, such as mashed, hash browns, sliced like round chips, or cut as wedges or fries. They can also be baked in whole, with just a slice horizontally so heat can escape its inner flesh.

Peas come in different numbers when inside a pod since there are varieties that contain only three, while there are some that contain at least seven or even 20. And yes, all peas in one pod tend to look alike and share characteristics, hence the idiomatic expression "peas in a pod" that describes similarities among individuals.

Generally speaking, the bigger the pepper, the less spicy it is. This is true for the huge bell peppers, whether they are of the green, yellow or red varieties.

The rounded cabbage is the most common variety, apparently named cannonball cabbage due to the shape. The napa cabbage variety is the most common variety being made into kimchi in Korean cuisine.

Due to how it looks like, the asparagus also earned the folk nickname "spear grass." Some people eat it washed and raw, but it's best to roast or grill, then put olive oil on it. Try wrapping some stalks with a strip of bacon and fry 'em!

The old Popeye cartoon character is right in encouraging viewers to eat spinach due to its health benefits. While it may not entirely make our muscles pop out like that, it's enough to give the body its much-needed vitamins and minerals, such as vitamin A, vitamin E, thiamin, iron, zinc, calcium, and of course fiber.

Halloween season in the USA means pumpkin carving, which pertains to turning the whole pumpkin into a lantern lit from the inside (scoop out the middle portions) or designing it outside with carved images. It's also great to turn into creamy soup, and roasting them also brings out some sweet flavors of the flesh.

Brussels sprouts actually look like tiny cabbages that could fit in the palm of the hand. That's because they also belong to the cabbage family, but they grow in stalks.

When cooked, kale can give you your much-needed fiber, water, vitamin C, and vitamin B. But newer studies say that it's not great to eat this raw, like what diet-conscious people do when they eat this in salad form.

Zucchinis are best mixed with light dishes, or grilled with other veggies to mix into a skewered barbecue style of serving. It can also be sliced into circles, much like cucumbers, and sprinkled with stuff like cheese or parmesan for baking.

The beet is sometimes called red beet, garden beet, or table beet. It is hailed for its health benefits, such as its characteristic of being low in calories, aiding in digestion, lowering blood pressure, and a good source of vitamin C.

Beauty experts advise people with puffy eyes or deep eye bags to slice some cucumber and put them on top of the closed eyelids. Many beauty products and other health products actually contain cucumber ingredients on them, supposedly to utilize its health benefits.

For people encountering artichokes for the first time, it might be hard to imagine that this vegetable can actually be eaten, and people try to figure out how to! It's easy once they realize that the artichoke is basically a huge bud that hasn't opened yet as a flower, so just remove the hard petals until you get to the core of it.

Celery is hailed as a good vegetable because it is a source of dietary fiber. Its long stalks help in that department, as well as the leaves found at the end of the crunchy stalks.

Ginger is generally a vegetable because its raw form can be used for cooking, but some classify its dried or powdered form as an herb or spice, too. For those suffering from a sore throat, the powdered versions of ginger are recommended for drinking as a juice if it's too tedious to prepare the raw kind for this purpose.

A leek is often mistaken as a younger version of an onion, but it's not. However, they are cousins, in a way, and they share many common characteristics and effects, as well as health benefits.

Alfalfa sprouts are usually included in dishes promoted for healthy eating. They are a staple in many vegetarian dishes, often found in salads and even in sandwiches.

The cauliflower is the "new rice" for some diet-conscious people, as this veggie is getting reinvented as a healthier alternative to rice. You can steam it, cut it into smaller pieces until it simulates the look of rice, then it can be eaten with meals as a rice substitute.

For those with digestive problems, health experts recommend eating radish to help in one's metabolism. It's also high on many kinds of nutrients which help fortify our blood vessels, as it also contains antioxidants.

Turnips are really flexible to prepare, culinary-wise. One can eat it raw, julienned to be mixed into any veggie salad, diced for roasting in a veggie kebab, and even mashed like potatoes.

Sweet potatoes are becoming as versatile as their original potato family member. They can also be eaten in a mashed version, as fries, and even chips.

Bok choy is also known as Chinese cabbage, but it's not rounded like the typical cannonball type. Plants Vs. Zombies reimagined this veggie as a boxer with those low-hanging leaves as fists.

Unlike its cousin carrot, the parsnip could be a little sweeter and a tad bit nuttier to the taste. But they're also as flexible as carrots in a culinary way, since it can be prepared with many dishes, and even converted into chips or fries-like versions.

There are many varieties of squash, and butternut squash is the kind where the seeds are concentrated inside its round portion on its bottom part. It's also known as a butternut pumpkin in Australia and could be prepared just like a pumpkin, too.

People either love okra, or they hate it, simply because its juice is kinda like sticky sap, and the white seeds are sometimes bitter to the taste. But some countries love this veggie, and it's usually included in many stews, or they're roasted then served as a side vegetable of major meals.

In the last decade, quinoa has appeared on the common radar of the culinary world for its health benefits. Some substitute quinoa for rice, because it's purportedly healthier to consume, even if it's way more expensive than rice.

Lima beans are sometimes called butter beans because they indeed have some sort of a buttery texture. Americans love eating this mixed with corn in a dish called succotash, which could also contain tomatoes, okra, and a variety of bell peppers.

Shiitake mushrooms are very common in the East Asian region, primarily because they grow there, meaning they are endemic to the region. But they are also known by other names, as defined by the wood where they are cultivated: golden oak mushroom, oakwood mushroom, or sawtooth oak mushroom, for example.

Lovers of Vietnamese and Thai cuisine would be familiar with the raw bean sprouts served on their various dishes. The Japanese also include them in some ramen dishes, and Koreans use them when preparing certain food items like the bibimbap.

If you read the Bible, there are many mentions there of lentil as consumed by the characters depicted in various stories, often in the form of soup. If you travel to South Asian countries, you will also encounter a lentil dish known as dal, which may look like a cross between a thick soup and sauce.

A yam is actually a close relative of the sweet potato, and they share many characteristics, so their cooking preparations are rather similar. There's a purple yam variety though, which is termed "ube" in the Philippines, and it's popularly be used as a flavoring for different kinds of food such as cakes, ice cream, and most popularly, jams.

You can't roast this one on an open fire during yuletide season, because the water chestnut behaves differently as a vegetable. It's actually crispy and crunchy when you bite it, and its texture is like that of an apple's, so it's good to include in flavorful meat stew dishes.