150 // 151 The Science of Vegetables, Fruits, Nuts, and Seeds

Is it better to eat Making the most of veggies

VEGETABLES RAW? The green tops of vegetables
such as carrots, which we usually
discard (see below), are perfectly
Cooking vegetables is neither inherently bad nor good. edible and add a peppery tang to
side dishes and salads.

Cooking has a mixed effect on nutrients, destroying How to use green vegetable tops
Use the green tops of the vegetables
vitamins and antioxidants in some foods, while increasing below as a flavorful addition to a salad,
them in others. For example, tomatoes release more of the sautéed alongside other greens, or
relatively rare antioxidant lycopene and carrots release more mixed in a soup or broth for extra bite.
beta-carotene when cooked, but vitamin C (also in tomatoes), Carrot • Radish • Turnip • Beet
several B vitamins, and certain enzymes are destroyed by
heating. To optimize health, it’s important to eat a variety
of cooked and raw vegetables. The chart below shows how
some vegetables retain important nutrients if eaten raw and Alkaloids in
others release valuable nutrients when cooked. carrot greens have
a peppery taste.

B ETT ER RAW BETTER CO O K E D

Broccoli
Heat damages the
enzyme myrosinase
that makes anti-cancer
compounds.
Watercress
As with broccoli,
heat damages the
important enzyme
myrosinase.
Garlic
Heat reduces the
amount of the
health-boosting
enzyme allicin.
Onions
These retain more
antioxidant flavonoids
and cancer-fighting
sulfur compounds.
Red pepper
These are high in
vitamin C, an unstable
vitamin that is
damaged in heat.
Carrot tops contain
more vitamin C
Carrots than the root.
Cooked carrots supply
a greater number of CARROT TOPS
heart-protecting
carotenoids.
Should I throw away
Spinach
Gentle cooking makes
the beta-carotene
THE GREEN TOPS?
and iron in spinach
more absorbable. Uncertainty about safety puts many off
eating green tops.
Cabbage
Steamed or gently The green, spindly leaves that adorn the top of
boiled cabbage vegetables such as carrots have long been thrown into
releases more
carotenoids.
soups and broths, but many of us are uncertain about
how edible they are. Recent scares over “poisonous”
alkaloid chemicals in carrot leaves have put many people
Tomatoes off using these, and a resemblance to poisonous hemlock
These release more
of the antioxidant adds to the reluctance to eat the green tops. Alkaloids
lycopene after in carrot greens do lend a slightly bitter taste and, in
cooking. high enough doses, can be poisonous, but the amounts
consumed in carrot tops are of little concern. In fact,
Asparagus many of the bitter-tasting herbs and salad plants, such
Cooking makes as arugula, owe their pleasant, cutting flavors to the
cancer-fighting ferulic bitter alkaloids they contain. Treat carrot tops and
acid in asparagus
more absorbable.
other green tops as you would any herb; although, as
with other strong-tasting leaves, avoid overpowering
dishes with them.