“Cross—boarder” Food， Are You Eating Properly？

By+Fan+Zhihong

Fruit， corn and waxy corn， which of them are grains？ Are peanut and pea beans？ Are soybean and black soya bean coarse cereals that can be used to cook porridge？ Are potato， sweet potato， Chinese yam and taro grains or vegetables？ Are water chestnut and lotus root vegetables， snacks or grains？ Is cherry tomato a kind of fruit or vegetable？

Indeed， what is the kind of some food， the sayings are confusing. Let's call them "cross-border food". These conflicts of classification are often derived from the differences of different industries. For example， the supermarkets put watermelons and melons on the fruit shelves， but for a botanist， melons are vegetables.

Potato， lotus root， corn

half staple food， half vegetables

Potato， sweet potato， taro， corn ， are these food should be vegetables or grains？ The vegetable experts insist that they belong to the vegetables， because they contain high moisture and vitamin C； But the grain experts insist that the potato should be grain， because it contains potato starch. In the past famine time， a lot of people keep lives by them. The westerners still see the potatoes as staple food！

The potato and lotus root contain lot of starch， the composition such as beta-carotene， folic acid and vitamin K content is much higher than ordinary food， and the starch content is higher than green that of leafy vegetables， the nutrition value is between grain and vegetables. If replace the grains partly with these products， the nutritional value will be rised， the supply of potassium， vitamin C and dietary fiber will be increased. In term of the corns close to the potatoes in classification， the popular fruit corn belongs to sweet corn， it is harvested when not mature， and contains more water， vitamin C and soluble sugar， but lower starch content， so it is still a kind of starchy vegetable.

Green soy bean， broad bean， pea

vegetables when young， beans when older

Beans and peas are commonly used in many dishes as side dishes. When their seeds are picked in "adolescence"， then they should be vegetables， but when they are picked after mature， they should be the beans or grains. Such as the tender beans， fresh peas， tender green soy beans， they are all vegetables， for they contain high water content， vitamin C and less starch； The mature old bean， dried peas AND dried beans are all beans.

Peanutpretend to be nut

The reason why peanut in English is so called is because of its flavor， way of eating and the way of processing are all similar to those of nuts. In the food processing industry， it is seen as nut. The consumers have no objections. Nuts must be the fruits with shells grown from the trees， like hazelnut and walnut. Peanuts are herbaceous plant seeds grown in the field， they can only be called "oilseeds"， but not nuts

Soybean， black soya bean

same ingredient and taste as meat

The raw materials of vegetarian meat popular in recent years are actually soy products. We often think of soya beans and black beans as minor cereals， in fact， they are not grains， because they contain little digestible starch. In European and American countries， beans and black beans are classified as high protein food， same as the fish and eggs. People even use them to replace meat and fish to supply fro proteins， it is also the reason why we often say "soy protein". They contain very high protein， low heat， and can be cooked in various ways， are the best substitute of meat.

Cherry tomato

better to be fruit

Holy virgin fruit is officially named of cherry tomato. It seems that it is hard to say whether it is a fruit or vegetable. It contains less sugar than most of the fruits ，but more than most of the vegetables. Cherry tomatoes have the similar ratio of lycopene with ordinary tomatoes， the best way to separate the lycopene is cooking， so there is usually no cherry tomatoes on the healthy recipes， its thick skin may also affect the taste of food. If eating raw tomatoes， please dont use too much salad sauce， which contains very high quantity of heat， and will erase the tomatoes advantage of low energy.