Common name: bamboo
Scientific name: Bambusa spp., Phyllostachys spp.
Family: Poaceae (Grass family)
Plant part used: stem, young shoots
Where grown: throughout the Tropics, Subtropics, and some temperate areas
Native to: Tropical Asia
Use: Various bamboos are used for construction, weaving, papermaking, and for food. It is one of the most versatile of materials, combining light weight with strength and flexibility. In the Tropics an entire house can be built using only bamboo.

Young shoots are harvested just as they come out of the ground (similar to harvesting asparagus). The coarse outer layer is removed to expose the tender, edible center. These young shoots are usually cooked, then sliced or shredded before being added to other dishes.

Bamboo has come to symbolize resistance to hardship because the plant stays green all year and will bend under the weight of snow without breaking.

Common name: eggplant, aubergine, eggfruit
Scientific name: Solanum melongena L.
Family: Solanaceae (Nightshade family)
Plant part used: fruit
Where grown: throughout the world
Native to: India, or perhaps southern China
Use: Eggplants can be grilled, fried, baked, or steamed. They need not be peeled unless the skin has been waxed, or causes a bitter taste.

Eggplants are known only as cultivated species. They spread to Europe in the 15th Century and reached the New World later.

Eggplant got its name a few hundred years ago, when varieties commonly grown produced small, white fruits resembling eggs.

Common name: hot pepper, chili pepper, sweet bell pepper
Scientific name: Capsicum annum L. (hot and sweet); C. fructescens L. (hot)
Family: Solanaceae (Nightshade family)
Plant part used: fruit
Where grown: throughout the world
Native to: New World Tropics
Use: Hot peppers are used fresh or dried to add a hot, spicy flavor to dishes. Sweet peppers are used as a vegetable.

Hot peppers belong to the same botanical family as the tomato, potato, eggplant, and tobacco. They are thought to have been used first in Mexico around 7,000 B.C. Columbus brought them to Europe in the 15th Century. Peppers made their way around the world and were brought to North America with European colonists.

Common name: tomato
Scientific name: Lycopersicon esculentum L.
Family: Solanaceae (Nightshade family)
Plant part used: fruit
Where grown: throughout the world
Native to: western South America
Use: Tomatoes are eaten fresh, canned, and dried. They are also used to make pastes and catsup.

Although the tomato is often called a vegetable, botanically it is a fruit.

The Latin name for tomato means “juicy wolf peach” and comes from the belief that the fruits could be used to evoke werewolves! Tomatoes were long believed to be poisonous. They did not become popular in the U.S. until after 1820, when Colonel Robert Gibbon Johnson ate a bushel in public to prove they were not poisonous. Their popularity increased, but it was not until the 1920s that the huge commercial production of tomatoes began. Today, the tomato is the favorite of home vegetable gardeners.

Common name: winged bean
Scientific name: Psophocarpus tetragonolobus (L.) DC.
Family: Fabaceae (Pea family)
Plant part used: tubers, leaves, shoots, flowers, pods, and seeds
Where grown: mainly Southeast Asia
Native to: Papua New Guinea, Southeast Asia
Use: Almost all parts of the winged bean plant are edible. The tubers taste like nut-flavored, early-season potatoes and are traditionally prepared in Papua New Guinea by roasting in hot embers. Young bean pods, flowers, leaves, and shoot tips can be eaten as a green vegetable.

Winged bean tubers can contain up to 20 percent protein. Some scientists believe that the winged bean could become an important tropical crop of the future, equivalent to the soybean.

Second only to the grass family, the pea family is extremely important economically. Many other members of the family, including peanuts, soybeans, snap, and dry beans, are widely cultivated.

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