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Thursday, June 27, 2013


List of edible seeds

 

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

A list of edible seeds here includes seeds that are directly foodstuffs, rather than yielding derived products.

A variety of species can provide edible seeds. Of the six major plant parts, seeds are the dominant source of human calories and protein.[1] The other five major plant parts are roots, stems, leaves, flowers, and fruits. Most edible seeds are angiosperms, but a few are gymnosperms. The most important global seed food source, by weight, is cereals, followed by legumes, and nuts.[2]

The list is divided into the following categories:

  • Beans (or Legumes) are protein-rich soft seeds.
  • Cereals (or grains) are grass-like crops that are harvested for their dry seeds. These seeds are often ground to make flour. Cereals provide almost half of all calories consumed in the world.[3] Botanically, true cereals are members of the Poaceae or Grass family.
    • Pseudocereals are cereal crops that are not members of the Poaceae or Grass Family.
  • Nuts are botanically a specific type of fruit but the term is also applied to many edible seeds that are not botanically nuts.
    • Gymnosperms produce nut-like seeds but neither flowers nor fruits.

Beans

Beans, also known as legumes or pulses include:[4]


Although some beans can be consumed raw, some need to be heated before consumption. In certain cultures, beans that need heating are initially prepared as a seed cake. Beans that need heating include:[5]


Cereals

True cereals are the seeds of certain species of grass. Three — maize, wheat and rice — account for about half of the calories consumed by people every year.[3] Grains can be ground to make flour, used as the basis of bread, cake, noodles or other food products. They can also be boiled or steamed, either whole or ground, and eaten as is. Many cereals are present or past staple foods, providing a large fraction of the calories in the places that they are eaten. Cereals include:


Pseudocereals


Nuts

According to the botanical definition, nuts are a particular kind of seed.[6] Chestnuts, hazelnuts, and acorns are examples of nuts, under this definition. In culinary terms, however, the term is used more broadly to include fruits that are not botanically qualified as nuts, but that have a similar appearance and culinary role. Examples of culinary nuts include almonds, coconuts, peanuts and cashews.[7][8]


Nut-like gymnosperm seeds


Other


The entire wiki link on this subject can be found at:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_edible_seeds

Poster's comments:

            One can use the leftovers for worms,  compost, heat for the wood stoves,  etc.

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