Can you think of one or two vegetables that start with “D”? Even though there aren’t many, we’ve managed to find eight of them. They include herbs, roots, algae, leaves, etc., all of which are edible and prepared in a variety of ways.
Here’s a list of several vegetables that start with this letter and a little bit of useful and fun information about them.
8 Vegetables Start With The Letter D
1. Daikon
Daikon is a common vegetable in Japanese cuisine. It’s a root vegetable similar to carrot only this one is white in color. It’s super crunchy, adding texture and character to a variety of meals and condiments. Daikon is also known as daikon radish, white radish, winter radish, Japanese radish, or Chinese radish, so the taste reminds of red radish.
However, these two are different vegetables. Daikon is much bigger and milder in taste than red radishes we use in salads. In fact, it’s slightly sweet and lightly spicy, whereas red ones are peppery.
You can use this vegetable in dishes instead of turnips and carrots. It’s usually first peeled before cooked or served raw. You can dice it for cooking, slice it for a garnish, use it in savory dishes and baked goods, or grate it for pickling. You can use various methods of cooking with daikon, from roasting and braising to grilling and steaming. Or, use it raw in salads, wraps, and sandwiches.
2. Dabberlocks
This is an edible alga that’s commonly found around the British Isles. It’s also known as Winged kelp, Atlantic Wakame, or Badderlocks. You can eat it raw in salads, or cooked in soups. Dabberlocks can also be dried and used later after soaking them in warm water. It’s a traditional food in Iceland, Ireland, Greenland, and Scotland.
3. Dasheen
Dasheen is mainly grown as a root veggie for its starchy corm and as a leaf veggie. It’s a type of taro that’s also called tannia and coco. This vegetable is usually served boiled or added in soups for a thicker consistency.
The lightly purple corms can be boiled, baked, or roasted. Thanks to the natural sugars they have a sweet nutty flavor. The small and fine grains are also used for baby food.
When grown as a root veggie, it’s typically boiled. The leaves, on the other hand, can be cooked with onion, coconut milk, and fish or meat. In many countries, the stem and leaves of this vegetable are cooked and pureed into callaloo – a thick liquid side dish that reminds of creamed spinach.
4. Daylily
Daylilies belong to the group of little-known and forgotten vegetables, despite being cultivated as such for thousands of years by the Japanese, Chinese, and Koreans. The young shoots can be added fresh to salads or prepared like asparagus.
The buds, on the other hand, are added to soups or braised in a wok. The sweetish tangy blossoms are used as a decoration to salads or as a garnish to soups. The blossoms can also be dried and used as a seasoning.
When it comes to the root, it’s most commonly used in spring when it’s fresh and tender. It can be boiled as a vegetable or added to soups. The flavor of the daylily root is something between oyster plant and corn.
5. Dill
This herb is common in Asian and European cuisines. The soft leaves of this herb have a sweet grassy-like flavor, whereas the brown, flat and oval seeds have a lightly citrusy flavor.
Dill is used as a spice or fresh herb to boost the flavor of numerous dishes. It’s most often found in combination with potatoes, salmon, and yogurt-based sauces.
For example, you can use a fresh herb to top cold cucumber salads, garnish roasted vegetables or soups, enhance salads, stir into tzatziki, add to marinades, sauces, or salad dressings, and add to baked goods.
Dried dill, on the other hand, can boost the flavor of marinades, dips, tuna salads, chicken salads, or potato salads, while whole or crushed dill seeds can be added to vegetable dishes, soups, or bread.
6. Dandelion
You can eat almost every part of this weed plant, except for the stem that contains a bitter and milky liquid. The flowers can be added to fritters, pancakes, and omelets. The young, tender greens can be used raw in salads, added on top of baked or mashed potatoes, or cooked like spinach. Thanks to the high amount of sodium, you can it instead of table salt.
The root is not commonly eaten due to the hard obtaining and cleaning process. If you still decide to try it out of curiosity, you should boil it to reduce its bitterness and add it to stews and soups. You can even use the pollen sprinkled on food for coloring and decoration.
7. Delicata Squash
It’s a type of winter squash also known as sweet potato squash, Bohemian squash, or peanut squash. This small gourd is extremely versatile and easy to cook. You can roast it in the oven, steam it, stuff it with other vegetables or meat, boil it, sauté it in a pan, or cook it in a microwave.
No matter how you cook it or use it, you’ll get tender, sweet flesh that’s so much easier to use than butternut squash. Like any other squash, slice it and remove the insides before using it. You can fill delicata squash halves with vegetables, meat, or cheeses. Yummy!
8. Drumstick
Have you heard of the Moringa tree? Well, the pods of this tree are called drumsticks and they are used as a vegetable. You can use them to make all kinds of delicious and nutritious dishes thanks to the high amount of phytonutrients.
Drumsticks give a sweet and aromatic flavor to dishes such as soups, curries, patties, stews, etc. Besides adding variety to your kitchen, drumsticks also offer impressive health benefits.
Conclusion
We hope our list of vegetables that start with “D” will remind you of some little-forgotten herbs, roots, seeds, and algae and inspire you to use them in your kitchen more often.
