Nutrition Facts

NUTRITION FACTS

Updated in: Jumada Al Oula 1442 / January 2021

This section covers the basic facts about vegetables and fruits, and what is needed to know about them.

Check out also Health Tips page for some useful tips for your body.

Apple
Apple varieties, of which there are thousands, fall into three broad classes: 1. Cider varieties; 2. Cooking varieties; and 3. Dessert varieties, which differ widely but tend to emphasize color, size, aroma, smoothness, and perhaps crispness and tang. Many varieties are relatively high in sugar, only mildly acidic, and very low in tannin. Apples provide vitamins A and C, are high in carbohydrates, and are an excellent source of dietary fiber. Apples are eaten fresh or cooked in a variety of ways and are frequently used as a pastry filling, apple pie being perhaps the archetypal American dessert. In 2011 the largest producers of apples were China, the United States, India, Turkey, and Poland.

Apricot
Apricots are cultivated throughout the temperate regions of the world, especially in the Mediterranean. They are eaten fresh or cooked and are preserved by canning or drying. The fruit is also widely made into jam and is often used to flavor liqueurs. Apricots are a good source of vitamin A and are high in natural-sugar content. Dried apricots are an excellent source of iron. The apricot was originally domesticated in China but is now cultivated on every continent except Antarctica. In 2011, the top five producers of apricots were Turkey, Iran, Uzbekistan, Italy, and Algeria.

Avocado
A tree native to the Western Hemisphere from Mexico south to the Andean regions. Avocado fruits have greenish or yellowish flesh with a buttery consistency and a rich, nutty flavor. They are often eaten in salads, and in many parts of the world they are eaten as a dessert. Mashed avocado is the principal ingredient of guacamole, a characteristic sauce in Mexican cuisine. Avocados provide thiamine, riboflavin, and vitamin A, and in some varieties the flesh contains as much as 25 percent unsaturated oil. Mexico, Chile, the Dominican Republic, Indonesia, and Colombia were the top producers worldwide in 2011.

Banana
The banana is grown in the tropics, and, though it is most widely consumed in those regions, it is valued worldwide for its flavor, nutritional value, and availability throughout the year. A ripe fruit contains as much as 22 percent of carbohydrate, mainly as sugar, and is high in dietary fiber, potassium, manganese, and vitamins B6 and C. Cavendish, or dessert, bananas are most commonly eaten fresh, though they may be fried or mashed and chilled in pies or puddings. They may also be used to flavor muffins, cakes, or breads. Cooking varieties, or plantains, are starchy rather than sweet and are grown extensively as a staple food source in tropical regions. Although Cavendish bananas are by far the most-common variety imported by nontropical countries, plantain varieties account for about 85 percent of all banana cultivation worldwide. Bananas are thought to have been first domesticated in Southeast Asia, and it is said that India was first to grow bananas.

Cabbage
The edible portions of all cabbage forms-which include kale, broccoli, and Brussels sprouts-are low in calories and are an excellent source of vitamin C. Head cabbage, generally designated simply “cabbage,” is a major table vegetable in most countries of the temperate zone. All forms of cabbage have succulent leaves that are free of hairs and covered with a waxy coating, which often gives the leaf surface a gray-green or blue-green colour. The plants grow best in mild to cool climates and tolerate frost; some forms tolerate hard freezing at certain periods of growth.

Cherry
The fruit is round to oblate in shape, is generally dark red in color, and has so much acid that it is not appealing for eating fresh. The duke cherries are intermediate in both tree and fruit characteristics. The fruits of all varieties provide vitamin A and small amounts of such minerals as calcium and phosphorus. Cherries are grown in all areas of the world where winter temperatures are not too severe and where summer temperatures are moderate. They require winter cold in order to blossom in spring. The trees bloom quite early in the spring, just after peaches and earlier than apples.

Fig
In Mediterranean countries, the fig is so widely used, both fresh and dried, that it is called “the poor man’s food.” The fruit contains significant amounts of calcium, potassium, phosphorus, and iron. Fig trees are propagated from cuttings of dormant wood taken in February in the Northern Hemisphere and planted in nursery rows. These grow in one season to a height of 1 m (3 feet) and are ready to transplant at the end of the growing season. The trees thrive in a wide range of soil types and in most Mediterranean countries receive water only from the natural rainfall. Some varieties produce only one crop, in summer or fall. Some bear two crops, the first maturing in June or July on wood of the previous growth and the second ripening in summer or fall in the axils of the leaves of the same season. In cool climates such as those of England and central France, most varieties mature only the first crop. Pot culture of figs in greenhouses has long been practiced in England and other countries.

Grape
Grapes contain such minerals as calcium and phosphorus and are a source of vitamin A. All grapes contain sugar (glucose and fructose) in varying quantities depending upon the variety. Those having the most glucose are the most readily fermented.

Lemon
Lemon has many benefits for humans. Lemon juice is a characteristic ingredient in many pastries and desserts such as tarts and the traditional American lemon meringue pies. The distinctive astringent flavor of the fruit, either fresh or preserved, is also used to enhance many types of poultry, fish, and vegetable dishes worldwide. Lemonade, made with lemon, sugar, and water, is a popular warm-weather beverage, and the juice itself is commonly added to tea. Citric acid may amount to 5 percent or more by weight of the lemon’s juice, which is also rich in vitamin C and contains smaller amounts of the B vitamins, particularly thiamine, riboflavin, and niacin.

Lettuce
Four botanical varieties of lettuce are cultivated: 1. Asparagus lettuce, with narrow leaves and a thick, succulent, edible stem; 2. Head, or cabbage, lettuce, with the leaves folded into a compact head; 3. Leaf, or curled, lettuce, with a rosette of leaves that are curled, finely cut, smooth-edged or oak-leaved in shape; and 4. Cos, or romaine, lettuce, with smooth leaves that form a tall, oblong, loose head. There are two classes of head lettuce: the butter-head types with soft heads of thick, oily leaves, and crisp-head types with brittle-textured leaves that form very hard heads under proper temperature conditions. For successful cultivation lettuce requires ample water, especially in warmer weather. During unseasonable weather, protection is furnished and growth stimulated with greenhouses, frames, cloches, or polyethylene covers.

Orange
The spread of orange-juice drinking, in contrast with eating of the fresh fruit, significantly increased the per capita consumption of oranges. Also, important was the growing appreciation of the dietary value of citrus fruits; oranges are rich in vitamin C and also provide some vitamin A. Oranges thrive best where the trees are chilled somewhat by occasional light frosts in winter. The trees are semi-dormant at that season, and temperatures just below freezing will not harm trees or fruit unless frost occurs early, before the trees have finished their annual growth. In the coldest cultivation areas, the orchards may be heated with smudge pots or smokeless natural-gas burners.

Parsley
The compound leaves-deep green, tender, and curled or deeply frilled-that develop in a cluster during the first season of growth are used fresh or dried, the mildly aromatic flavor being popular in fish, meats, soups, sauces, and salads. Parsley is often the principal ingredient of bouquet garni and fines herbs. In the second season of growth, seed stalks rise about 1 meter (3.3 feet) tall and are topped by compound umbels of small, greenish yellow flowers followed by tiny fruits, or seeds, similar to those of a carrot but without spines. Parsley seedlings are small and weak; they emerge with difficulty from heavy, crusty soils. Parsley contains less than 0.5 percent essential oil, the principal component of which is a pungent, oily, green liquid called apiol. Hamburg parsley, or turnip-rooted parsley, is grown for its large, white, parsniplike root, which is popular in Europe.

Pineapple
The pineapple has become a characteristic ingredient in the meat, vegetable, fish, and rice dishes of what is loosely termed Polynesian cuisine, a blend of various Oriental styles of cooking. The fruit is eaten fresh where available and in canned form worldwide. In the United States and in Europe it is sometimes used as a pastry filling or in baked desserts.

Strawberry
The fruits are rich in vitamin C and are commonly eaten fresh as a dessert fruit, are used as a pastry or pie filling, and may be preserved in many ways. The strawberry shortcake-made of fresh strawberries, sponge cake, and whipped cream-is a traditional American dessert. Botanically, the strawberry fruit is considered an “accessory fruit” and is not a true berry. The flesh consists of the greatly enlarged flower receptacle and is embedded with the many true fruits, or achenes, which are popularly called seeds.

Tomato
Tomatoes are a good source of vitamin C and the phytochemical lycopene. The fruits are commonly eaten raw in salads, served as a cooked vegetable, used as an ingredient of various prepared dishes, and pickled. Additionally, a large percentage of the world’s tomato crop is used for processing; products include canned tomatoes, tomato juice, ketchup, puree, paste, and “sun-dried” tomatoes or dehydrated pulp.

Watermelon
Native to tropical Africa and cultivated around the world. The fruit contains vitamin A and some vitamin C and is usually eaten raw. The rind is sometimes preserved as a pickle. The watermelon plant is an annual that grows well in hot climates. Its vines grow on the ground and have branched tendrils. Watermelon weight varies from 1 to 2 kg (2.5 to 5 pounds) to 20 kg (44 pounds) or more. The number of fruits per vine varies from 2 to 15.

Sources:
www.britannica.com

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