●Eggplant
Eggplant is one of the main vegetables in Asia, and the world's earliest record of eggplant cultivation is the "Qi Min Zhi Shu" by Chinese agronomist Jia Sixun. The fruit of the eggplant is the true fruit of the development of the ovary. The fruit wall is developed from the ovary wall and consists of the outer peel, the middle peel and the inner peel. The exocarp is the outermost part of the peel of the fruit, containing anthocyanins that give the fruit a different color such as purple-black, green or white. The skin is fleshy, syrupy and part of the consumption. Eggplant is one of the main vegetable species in the mainland, the fruit is rich in protein, carbohydrates, vitamins, calcium, phosphorus and other nutrients and a variety of alkaloids, is a high insoluble fiber, has a certain protein content and low fat content of vegetables.
In daily life, we can see eggplant of different shapes, such as round eggplant, long eggplant, and dwarf eggplant. Depending on the shape of the eggplant, their taste is also different. Long eggplant has a thin skin, less fiber in the seeds and pulp, and the taste is tender and light. Round eggplant has a tight flesh, less moisture than long eggplant, a harder texture, and an eggplant flavor that is fuller than long eggplant. Dwarf eggplant is oval in shape, with more seeds in the pulp, and the taste is worse than that of long eggplant and round eggplant. Their approach is also different: round eggplant is more suitable for dishes with long cooking time such as braised eggplant and stir-fried eggplant due to its tight meat, while grilled eggplant is more suitable for making low eggplant with a light taste, and long eggplant can be used for steaming and garlic paste.
●Tomatoes
Tomatoes are native to South America and were first grown by Peruvians. Because of its beauty and attractiveness, people are afraid that it is poisonous, so they just appreciate it and dare not eat it. It has a long history of cultivation on the mainland, and has been cultivated for nearly a hundred years. Tomato is one of the world's important vegetable crops, tomato varieties are many, according to the skin color can be divided into big red, pink and yellow; according to the shape of the fruit can be divided into round, flat round, oblong, pointed round.
Cherry tomatoes (i.e. cherry tomatoes) are a small to medium-sized fruit variant of the genus and are popular for their diverse, colorful, and nutrient-rich fruit. Tomatoes are rich in nutrients, each 100g of fresh fruit contains about 94g of water, rich in carbohydrates, dietary fiber, protein, lipids and so on. Tomato is also rich in vitamins such as vitamin C, vitamin B, thiamine, riboflavin, niacin, folic acid, vitamin E, vitamin A, etc., and also contains calcium, phosphorus, potassium, sodium, iron, magnesium, zinc, copper, manganese, iodine and other elements. The sugars contained in tomatoes are mainly glucose and fructose, the acids are mainly citric acid and malic acid, and also contain glutathione substances with beauty and beauty effects. Tomatoes also contain polyphenols and lycopene. The "small tomatoes" that we often eat as fruits are actually the ancestors of tomatoes, and large tomatoes are formed by hybridization.
●Chili peppers
Pepper originated in the tropical regions of Latin America, the country of origin is Mexico, about four hundred years ago at the end of the Ming Dynasty introduced to the mainland, is a very common vegetable in daily life, the main edible part is its fruit part, pepper ripe fruit is generally red or orange yellow, is one of the most important condiments when cooking, pepper fruit is rich in nutrients, such as vitamins, capsaicin, capsaicin and many other functional ingredients. It is one of the vegetables with the highest vitamin C content, capsaicin is the main source of spicy ingredients in peppers, of which capsaicin accounts for 46% to 77% of capsaicin, and peppers can be divided into large fruit type peppers, medium fruit peppers and small fruit types from large to small fruit types. Usually the large fruit type pepper varieties are slightly sweet and not spicy, the skin is thick, mainly as fresh vegetables are eaten and also called bell peppers or large bell peppers; Chinese pepper varieties are spicy, the skin is thinner, the moisture content is less, mostly used for drying; the small fruit type pepper varieties are more spicy than the medium fruit type pepper varieties, and the same is thin skin, less moisture content, used for drying.
●Goji berries
Goji berries are mostly oval or spindle-shaped, the fruit is red, occasionally orange in a few cultivated types, the fruit is delicate, the juice is full, and the taste is sweet and sour. Goji berries have a long history of cultivation in China and are often used as raw materials for the development of medicines and functional foods. Goji berries contain 22 kinds of trace elements, of which more than half are essential trace elements. At present, there are more and more research on goji berry processing products, mainly divided into fermented and non-fermented types, mainly fruit juice, fruit wine, yogurt, bread, fruit tea and so on.
●Sour slurry
Acid pulp is planted in many areas, about 120 species have been found so far, mainly distributed in temperate regions, and there are five main species of acid pulp plants widely grown in China, including acid pulp, bitter vine, small acid pulp, lantern fruit, and hair acid pulp. Among them, acid pulp and hair acid pulp are the main varieties planted in the northeast region of the mainland, also known as lantern grass, lantern grass, red mushroom lady, acid pulp calyx contains a variety of biologically active secondary metabolites, mainly containing picrines, flavonoids, alkaloids, terpenoids and so on.
Expert of this article: Na Yintu, master's degree student in food research and development of East China University of Science and Technology
Shaowei Liu, Ph.D. in Food Safety, member of the expert group of Shanghai Food Safety Research Society, member of the Food Safety Professional Committee of Shanghai Food Society, Ph.D. in Engineering from Pennsylvania State University, postdoctoral fellow at Kansas State University, USA