Root Vegetables: It's What's Inside that Counts

Root vegetables aren’t pretty. They aren’t like a baby pepper that transforms into a shiny, chiseled green block or like a plump, sun-kissed heirloom tomato. They are the workhorse veggies, staples that (no pun intended) ground the meal.

Before industrial agriculture and year-round availability of produce at the grocery store, root vegetables were harvested at the end of the season, stored in “root” cellars and eaten during the cold, lean months of winter. This makes sense given that root vegetables are just that: roots that store all of the nutrition for their plants above-ground. All of that energy, vitamins and minerals are beneficial to humans, too.

Carrots and potatoes are common root vegetables, but three others—parsnips, beets and sweet potatoes—are inexpensive and have some unique qualities that add nutrition and variety to favorite winter dishes.

Parsnips look like large, pale carrots but are used like potatoes. Researchers say the plant originated in Europe, and ancient Romans ate it, though they called carrots and parsnips by the same name. Before sugar cane, parsnips were used to sweeten foods. Farmers developed plumper, fleshier parsnips and harvested them late to increase the sugar. Vegetables in the same family include carrots, celery, parsley, fennel, celeriac and chervil.

Nutritionally, parsnips are high in fiber, low-calorie, low fat, cholesterol free, and harbor valuable omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids.

Generally parsnips can replace potatoes in recipes because of their similar physical properties. Try dicing them for soups or mashing them with potatoes or cauliflower to add some nutritional and flavor zip.

Beets, related to turnips and spinach, have their own unusual properties and benefits, most obviously the betalain pigments that give beets rich colors.  As with many phytonutrients, betalains provide antioxidant and anti-inflammatory support, but these combined with beet levels of Vitamin C and manganese appear to target eye health and nerve tissue.

The beet was cultivated along the Mediterranean as early as 2000 BC and in China during the first millennium AD. During this time, though, beets were grown mainly for their greens above ground, also nutritious. In the 19th century, sugar beets were developed in Germany and harvested as an alternative to sugar cane. Today one-third of the world’s sugar supply comes from beets.

Preliminary research indicates that beet phytonutrients inhibit a type of enzyme producing cell messages that trigger inflammation. In cases of chronic inflammation like heart disease, atherosclerosis and resulting Type II diabetes, stopping these molecules reduces dangerous inflammation. Because of this, scientists have been doing tests on various tumor cells and beets with promising results. Another nutrient found in beets, betaine, is showing positive results in decreasing cardiovascular system inflammation.

Beets are best when small to medium-large size. Watch for small bruises or holes because the pigments contained within the skin will leak from a punctured root. To conserve the pigment and nutrients, beets should be cooked with their skins intact and with about an inch of stem still on the root. The valuable betalains are susceptible to heat, so recommended steaming time should be kept to less than 15 minutes and roasting or baking time to less than one hour. When removing the outer skins wear rubber or disposable gloves to keep the pigment from coloring the hands. Root skins should peel off easily with a paper towel.   

There are over 400 varieties of sweet potatoes throughout the world, but only two varieties are commonly grown in the United States: one with gold colored skin and white or yellow flesh, the other with tan or brown skin and orange flesh, commonly called a yam. However, it is not even in the same botanical family as a true yam, which is grown only in tropical climates, nor is it related to the common potato. The yam misnomer began when African slaves coined the North American sweet potato “nyami,” the Senegalese term for a similar-looking root grown in Africa.  

Ten thousand years ago inhabitants of Peru were growing the sweet potato, which is actually part of the morning glory family. Columbus took them to Spain from the New World, and the Spanish and Portuguese grew and exported them around Europe, Africa, the Philippines, and Asia after that. Native Americans in the south were already growing them, called “batatas,” and sweet potatoes are still a southern cooking staple.

The darker the flesh, the more beta-carotene inside, and this is the type of beta-carotene from which human bodies can directly produce Vitamin A. In Africa and India school children are fed sweet potatoes to support healthy eyes, bones, skin and immune systems. It’s said that the sweet potato sustained Civil War soldiers during the winter months.

Sweet potatoes produce their own healing nutrients, sporamins, when the root’s flesh is damaged. These are stored in the vegetable flesh, so humans ingesting the vegetable may absorb these healing antioxidants, as well. Research indicates that sweet potatoes could help those with intestinal tract maladies or with high levels of mercury, cadmium or arsenic in their systems. 

An unusual benefit to people with Type II diabetes has to do with the body’s production of insulin regulator adiponectin, produced by the body’s fat cells. Sweet potatoes increase the production of this hormone, and, contrary to the usual avoidance of starch for diabetics, one medium sweet potato boiled or steamed will provide about three grams of dietary fiber and only register around 50 on the glycemic index.

Boiling seems to be the best way to preserve the nutrients and keep the glycemic index low. Studies also show that the beta-carotene is best absorbed when eaten with a small amount of fat. Adding a tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil or some crushed walnuts to a medium steamed or boiled sweet potato will be enough to reap the benefits.

True, root vegetables look a little rough on the outside, but so do diamonds when they’re first dug out of the ground. Using each of these in a winter dish every week could save a bit in the budget and add a boost to the immune system. It’s what’s inside that counts.

January: Burrow in with Some Comfort Food

It looks like Winter finally came back from the Bahamas, so hearty fare like stews and pastas will probably begin showing up on dinner tables. Stop back on this page weekly as I feature different comfort foods each week all month. In addition, I'll pair wines to go with them in this site's "Wine Pick of the Week," posted on Thursdays on the "Wine" page. 

First, a background on comfort foods and how they became part of us. Here's a feature I wrote, originally published in The Times Leader. Enjoy!

It isn’t possible to know exactly when sustenance became a substitute. Cavemen most likely ate to survive and hunt another day. Were gorging Romans trying to assuage guilt about throwing people to the lions, or were they alleviating worry about the fall of the empire? By that point food was considered pleasurable and was far more complicated than nuts, berries and wild boar, but a source of comfort? No one can say.

By end of the 1970’s, however, comfort food was a genre listed in Webster’s Dictionary and recognized by anyone holding eating utensils. People used food to feel better. There is a physiological reason for the body to seek food for comfort that in fact dates back to the cavemen: stress. When a person is threatened, be it a saber-toothed tiger or job loss, the brain tells the body to produce cortisol, which signals systems throughout the body to gear up for life-saving (increase the heart rate, become alert, send blood to muscles for quick action.) In the short-term, once the danger has passed, the body will shut the responses down. For chronic or long-term stress, cortisol production is prolonged, and the body’s internal response is to keep energy reserves (fat, particularly in the abdomen) on hand to maintain a higher level of internal activity. This means a natural craving for high fat, high sugar foods easily stored for energy. Once fat is stored, the body finally begins to shut the responses down, letting the brain know that there is a reserve of energy available.

The psychological and emotional connections to comfort food are a bit more complex and individual, but generally go back to the body’s hormone production. One university study had students categorize foods into nostalgic, physical, indulgence and convenience comfort foods, in effect showing that people make conscious choices about what foods make them feel better and why. When the body takes in sugar and starch, it produces a neurotransmitter called serotonin. The brain translates this chemical into “contentment, well-being.” Oxytocin is produced when the body eats salty food. This chemical is a warm and fuzzy “love hormone” related to trust, bonding and human sexual responses. Foods themselves can determine the resulting chemical and, to a certain extent, emotional reaction.   

Sight, sound, touch and smell link memories with responses as well. The scent of a perfume, good or bad, can take one back to a fourth grade teacher or great aunt. So it is with food. In an informal survey for this article, a group from various backgrounds in the east, Midwest and west coast were asked about their comfort foods. In answers to “what makes this a comfort food for you,” 50 percent of the respondents specifically mentioned associating the dish with their mothers or grandparents. Another 22 percent noted childhood memories (without mention of mothers or grandparents.) The difference may seem subtle, but the “moms” group associates the food with a person, love and connection to that person in general over time. The “childhood memories” group and, in fact, the remaining 28 percent seem to identify with the dish itself and its association with a time of illness, a reward or past good times.  

Comfort food is also not an American phenomenon. Cultures on every continent have dishes that incorporate the same characteristics and are eaten for the same reasons as classic American versions. Most are served warm, though some of the sweeter foods are not (candy, ice cream;) most are soft (noodles, melted cheese, meatballs;) many are starchy (potatoes, homemade bread.) One person’s eggnog is another’s pad thai.

In the above-mentioned survey one Ohio Valley chef (port braised lamb shanks with creamy polenta and arugula) and one owner of a computer service company in New York (beef stew) both cited the change of season for their comfort food choices. The chef associated his dish with the change in menu and good times with his restaurant crew. The man with the computer company noted the fall colors of his dish and mentioned the first snow of the season. 

Lists for the top named (American) comfort foods include what one might expect: macaroni and cheese, chicken soup, pot roast, beef stew, chocolate, apple and pumpkin pies, spaghetti, meatloaf, mashed potatoes. Aside from a couple of the favorites, though, the survey really showed the diversity of population while still staying true to comfort food characteristics: mashed potatoes with noodles in the center; peanut butter; ginger ale; eggnog; French fries with gravy; creamed peas and bacon made by mom. One woman describes her favorite: “Whole grain bread, toasted, with huge amounts of melted cheese on top. Tastes good while being not especially good for me, a prerequisite of comfort food. It probably reminds me of childhood when the cheese would have been generic Velveeta. Now the cheese is actually real cheese.”

She does bring up a point about comfort food: it isn’t healthy for everyday fare. This is also part of today’s stress issues relating to the upswing in obesity. As previously mentioned, stress increases serotonin in the body, therefore increasing cravings for easily converted energy foods. High carb/low protein foods keep the production of serotonin going, also stimulating insulin production, which over the long-term can result in obesity and Type 2 diabetes. Cookbooks and websites are full of updated recipes to make comfort-style foods healthier, but part of the idea is the indulgence. 

Though each has different experiences and preferences, humans are all designed the same, and using food to feel better is universal. The word “comfort” is derived from the Latin “confortare,” to strengthen. Chances are just reading this article has triggered some favorite food memory.

In the words of renowned food writer and author M.F.K. Fisher, “It seems to me that our three basic needs, for food and security and love, are so mixed and mingled and entwined that we cannot straightly think of one without the others. So it happens that when I write of hunger, I am really writing about love and the hunger for it, and warmth and the love of it and the hunger for it ... and then the warmth and richness and fine reality of hunger satisfied ... and it is all one.”