Bulbs, stems, and stalks

Bark is stripped from the trunk to reveal the crunchy vegetable inside.

When cut, these fleshy bulbs release a chemical that makes your eyes sting and water.

Harvesting palm trunks

Fleshy leaf stalks are often stewed with sugar and eaten in desserts.

In 2014, the largest ever onion was grown in the UK. The ginormous bulb weighed 18 3⁄4 lb (8.5 kg), approximately the same weight as a pug dog. Leaf stalks are eaten after removing the spiny leaf blades.

The thick stem tastes like celery and can reach up to 6 in (15 cm) across.

Spears of asparagus emerge from the earth in spring.

Largest onion Pug The cylindrical bulbs turn white underground.

Many plants make food in the warmer months and then store it in their bulbs, stems, and stalks. This makes these vegetables a valuable food source for the winter months, and humans have eaten them for thousands of years. Bulbs, such as leeks, onions, and garlic, are made up of fleshy leaves, while celeriac, asparagus, and kohlrabi are swollen stems that are tastiest eaten when young and tender. Other vegetables,

The feathery leaves, swollen stem, and seeds all taste like licorice.

Up to 20 cloves of garlic make up each bulb.

Swollen stems taste like a sweeter version of broccoli.

flooded fields called paddies.

These conical, tender shoots of the bamboo plant are widely used in Asian cooking. The crunchy underground stem is often eaten in Chinese dishes.

The salty stems of this coastal plant are often eaten with fish.

including rhubarb and cardoons, are the leaf stalks of the plant, although the leaves themselves are not edible. The enlarged base of fennel is made of both swollen stems and leaf stalks. The growing tips of many different types of bamboo are eaten as bamboo shoots, but harvesting them does not harm the mature plant. However, young bamboo shoots contain natural toxins, which must be removed by boiling in water. Hearts of palm are harvested from the trunks of several types of palm trees. Samphire is an asparagus-like plant that grows in coastal areas. Its stems can be eaten raw or boiled.