Healthy Serving Ideas • Look for roots like jicama, parsnips, Nutrition Facts Serving Size: ½ cup raw jicama, turnips, rutabagas, and radishes at sliced (60g) your local market. Calories 23 Calories from Fat 0 • Peel and slice crisp jicama. Sprinkle % Daily Value with chili powder for a quick snack. Total Fat 0g 0% • Peel and cube parsnips and add to Saturated Fat 0g 0% your favorite soup. Trans Fat 0g • Sauté sliced turnips, turnip greens, and Cholesterol 0mg 0% chopped onions for a flavorful dish. Sodium 2mg 0% • Serve mashed rutabagas instead of Total Carbohydrate 5g 2% mashed potatoes. Dietary Fiber 3g 12% • Shred radishes and add to a green Sugars 1g salad. Protein 0g Vitamin A 0% Calcium 1% Vitamin C 20% Iron 2% The Harvest of theThe Month Fresh featured from the Farm featuredJICAMA vegetablePIÑA BREEZE is vegetables are Makes 3 servings. 1 cup per serving. Fresh Cook time: 10 minutes How Much Do I Need? root vegetablesRoot Vegetables • A ½ cup of sliced jicama, turnips, or from the Ingredients: rutabagas is about one cupped handful. ½ cup canned pineapple chunks with • A ½ cup of most root vegetables is an juice, packed in 100% juice for educatorsexcellent source of vitamin C. ½ cup fresh jicama, peeled and cut • Root vegetables are rich in complex into small pieces carbohydrates, or starch, which give Farm ½ cup fresh orange, peeled and cut your body energy, especially for the RUTABAGA into small pieces JICAMA brain and nervous system. 2 cups 100% orange juice • Most people should get over half of their TURNIP BEET 1. Place all ingredients in a blender calories from complex carbohydrates. TURNIP container. Good sources include fruits, vegetables, Healthy Kids Do BetterHealth in Schooland Learning Success 2. Blend until smooth. Pour into and whole grains. Taste tests are a great strategyGo to encourageHand-in-Han studentsd to try new foods. Create glassesa and serve immediately. The amount of fruits and vegetables you safe environment for students Familyto taste meals new fruits can beand a vegetables.great time to A care low-pressure Nutrition informationHow Much per serving: Do I Need? need depends on your age, gender, and approach to taste testing can helpfor the students body. Take develop time a to sense set the of table,what they like.Calories 117, Carbohydrate 28 g, Dietary Fiber 3 g, physical activity level. Encourage your A ½ cup of sliced root vegetables is Incorporate Fresh from the Farmeat together, month fruits and andshare vegetables stories. Experts into lesson plansProtein 2 g, Total Fat 0 g, Saturated Fat 0 g, family to try a variety of colorful fruits and Trans Fat 0about g, Cholesterol one cupped 0 mg, Sodium handful. 5 mg Root and help students expand theiragree eating that horizons. sharing meals may help to vegetables every day. It will help them Source: Healthyvegetables Latino Recipes come Made in with a Love,variety of colors avoid teenage smoking, alcohol/drug Network for a Healthy California, 2008. reach their recommended daily amounts. Exploring Root Vegetables:abuse, and Taste depression. Testing Use Harvest of and most can be eaten raw or cooked. For more recipes,The amountvisit: of fruits and vegetables Getting Started: the Month recipes and serving ideas for www.cachampionsforchange.net Recommended Daily you need depends on your age, gender, Partner with your school nutritionhealthy staff, ways local tofarmers’ enjoy rootmarket, vegetables. or grocery store to Amounts of Fruits and Vegetables* and physical activity level. Remind obtain produce for taste tests. Kids, Teens and Adults, Let’s Getstudents Physical! to eat a variety of colorful fruits Ages 5-12 Ages 13 and up What You Will Need (per group):Produce Tips • At work:and Stretch vegetables with co-workers throughout to the day. 2½ - 5 cups 4½ - 6½ cups ■ ½ cup each of raw, peeled, an• Selectd sliced firm jicama jicama and that turnips are smooth with Males no bruises or spots. Store in a cool, dry help relax during your break. per day per day ■ ½ cup each of cooked* and sliced beets, turnips, and rutabagas place for up to four months. Keep sliced • At school:Recommended Encourage your Daily child Amountsto Females 2½ - 5 cups 3½ - 5 cups ■ Printed Nutrition Facts labels for jicama, turnips, beets, and rutabagas** jicama in a sealed plastic bag in the start a walkingof Fruits group and during Vegetables* recess. per day per day Activity: refrigerator for up to one week. They can talk while they walk! *If you are active, eat the higher number of cups per day. Visit www.mypyramid.gov to learn more. ■ Record sensory impressions• byChoose creating small- a Venn to medium-sized diagram on the turnips board. • With the family:Ages Play5 - 12 touch footballAges 13 or & older ■ Taste vegetables and note thethat look, are texture, smooth, smell, round, color, and and firm. taste. Store tag this weekend.2 ½ - 5 cups 3 ½ - 6 ½ cupsWhat’s in Season? ■ Ask students to write a reflectionin a cool,or thank dry youplace letter for upto theto two farmer months or school Gardening, doingper yard day work, vacuuming,per day Roots – like jicama, turnips, rutabagas, nutrition staff. Include sensoryor descriptions in a plastic orbag reasons in the refrigeratorwhy they liked for or disliked sweeping*Active – all types people of shouldphysical eat activity the higher radishes, and parsnips – are in peak certain items. up to two weeks. count towardsnumber your of cupsdaily per needs! day. season in late spring through fall. ■ Look for that are heavy, Examine Nutrition Facts labels• for all items.rutabagas Discuss how they differ Visit www.mypyramid.gov to learn more. nutritionally. smooth, round, and firm. Store in a cold, To find out how much activity you and Try these other good or excellent ■ Refer to Botanical Facts (pagedry 2) placeand explain for up tohow four tubers months differ or fromin the roots. your family need, visit: sources of complex carbohydrates for energy: corn, dry beans, peas, and *Make arrangements to cook (steam)refrigerator beets and forruta onebagas month. in advance. www.cdc.gov/physicalactivityNutrition Facts **Download from the Educators’ Corner of www.harvestofthemonth.com. Serving size ½ cup raw sliced jicama (60g) sweet potatoes. For more ideas, reference: Kids Cook Farm-Fresh Food, California Department of Amount per serving Education, 2002. Calories 23 Calories from Fat 0g % Daily Value Cooking in Class: Total Fat 0g 0% JicamaFor important Cucumbernutrition information, visitSalad www.cachampionsforchange.net. For food stampSaturated information, Fat 0g call 877-847-3663.0% Funded by the USDA Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, an equal opportunity provider and employer. © CaliforniaTrans Department Fat 0g of Public Health 2009. Ingredients: 24 tastes - ¼ cup each Cholesterol 0mg 0% ■ 1 pound jicama, peeled & cut into ½-inch cubes Sodium 2mg 0% ■ 2 medium cucumbers, quartered & sliced ¼-inch thick Total Carbohydrate 5g 2% Dietary Fiber 3g 12% ■ 1 fresh lime Sugars 1g ■ 3 teaspoons chili powder Protein 0g ■ Small plates and forks Vitamin A 0% Calcium 1% Vitamin C 20% Iron 2% 1. Combine jicama and cucumbers in a large bowl. Source: www.nutritiondata.com 2. Squeeze lime juice over salad and mix well. 3. Sprinkle seasoning over salad and mix well. Serve immediately. Source: Hawthorne School District, 2009. For nutrition information, visit: www.harvestofthemonth.com. Botanical Facts Root vegetables are the roots of plants that are eaten as vegetables. These roots grow into the ground from the base of the plant stem. They anchor the plant, absorb water and nutrients, and store energy. Root vegetables are divided into six subgroups: Tubers, Tap Roots, Tuberous Roots, Corms, Rhizomes, and Bulbs. Tubers differ from other roots in that they are swollen underground stems, capable of producing new plants and storing energy for the parent plant. If the parent plant dies, the underground tubers can create new plants. Other roots can take nutrients from the ground, but cannot store energy or use it for reproduction. So while every tuber is a root vegetable, not all roots are tubers.*

Subgroup Varieties Tubers Potato, sunchoke, yam Tap Roots Beet, carrot, cassava, jicama, parsnip, radish, rutabaga, turnip Tuberous Roots Sweet potato, yucca Corms Celeriac, eddo, taro, water chestnut Rhizomes Arrowroot, galangal, ginger, ginseng, lotus root, turmeric Bulbs Garlic, onion, shallot

*Refer to Carrots, Potatoes, and Sweet Potatoes newsletters for more information about root vegetable varieties. For more information, visit:http://aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu/extension/specialty

Reasons to Eat Root Home Grown Facts Vegetables ■ Parsnips, potatoes, and turnips grown in Minnesota are ■ A ½ cup of most root vegetables is an in season in September and October. excellent source of vitamin C. ■ Minnesota produces more sugar beets than any other ■ A ½ cup of sliced jicama is a good source state in the country. of fiber. ■ Askov, Minnesota, hosts an annual Rutabaga Festival. ■ Complex carbohydrates* (commonly Source: http://www.minnesotagrown.org referred to as “starches”) are a key Student Activity: nutrient in root vegetables. ■ Minnesota imports some produce from other states or Champion Sources of Complex Carbohydrates* countries. Locally grown foods, especially fruits and ■ Corn ■ Peas vegetables, are likely to be fresher and taste better ■ Dry beans ■ Sweet potatoes than foods shipped from out-of-state. * “Champion foods” include those in which most of their calories come ■ Ask the produce manager at your local market where the from complex carbohydrates. store buys its produce. Source: USDA Nutrient Database ■ Find more information about Minnesota Grown produce For more information, reference: Wellness Foods A to Z and which of your local markets carry local produce by by Sheldon Margen, Rebus, 2002. ordering a Minnesota Grown Directory. For more information, visit: www.minnesotagrown.org What Are Complex Carbohydrates? ■ “Starchy vegetables” provide calories in the form of complex carbohydrates. They also provide vitamins, minerals, and fiber. ■ The primary function of carbohydrates is to provide energy for the body, especially the brain and nervous system. ■ Most people should get 55-60%, or over half, of their total calories from carbohydrates, preferably starches and naturally occurring sugars. ■ Complex carbohydrates are made of polysaccharides (long chains of sugar units) that come from plant-based foods. The body uses enzymes to break down complex carbohydrates like starch into glucose, which the body then uses for energy. In plants, starch is produced by photosynthesis. Tubers store the highest quantities of starch of all vegetables. Source: Understanding Normal and Clinical Nutrition by Catalog, Whitney, and Rolfes, Sixth Edition, 2002, pp. 97, 114-117. For more information, visit: www.fruitsandveggiesmatter.gov Cafeteria Connections ■ Examine the school lunch menu. List the different choices of root vegetables. Adventurous Activities ■ Have students design posters promoting the nutritional significance of a root vegetable of Math Analysis their choice. Display posters in cafeteria. Compare and contrast the content of predominant nutrients ■ Ask students to select which root vegetables – including vitamins and minerals – in different root they will try. Record feedback and submit vegetable varieties (e.g., jicama, parsnips, rutabagas, summary to the school nutrition staff with turnips, beets). recommendations. Helpful Hint: Complete in conjunction with Taste Testing ■ Promote lunch time as a way for students activity on page 1. to obtain maximum nutrition and help meet :www.nal.usda.gov/fnic/foodcomp/search For information, visit their daily fruit and vegetable needs. Design promotional messages around fruits and Student Advocates vegetables served that week. ■ Form a Nutrition Advisory Council to promote nutrition For more ideas, visit: www.schoolnutrition.org and school meals to student peers. ■ Collaborate with school nutrition staff to create a taste testing event, make seasonal produce suggestions, or develop a standardized menu that complies with USDA Physical Activity Corner school meal nutrition guidelines. International Walk and Bike to School Day is celebrated For more information, visit: www.letsmove.gov/school-step-1.php every year in early October. In 2010, 11 Dakota County www.empowerME2b.org - Download the empowerME@school schools participated, with over 3,000 students taking toolkit part in a variety of activities, including remote drop sites for busses and police-assisted crossing on busy streets. Some schools in Dakota County have organized A Slice of Root “walking school buses” to provide opportunities for Vegetable History students to take safe routes to school throughout the ■ Root vegetables were an year. essential part of the diet during For more information, visit www.walkingschoolbus.org the early evolution of humankind (about five million years ago). ■ Turnip fossils found in caves in China date back thousands of years. ■ Jicama was brought to the Philippines and Malaysia by the Spanish in the 1600s. ■ Rutabagas are believed to have originated in Bohemia in the 1700s as a cross between the turnip and wild cabbage. ■ American colonists relied heavily on root vegetables because they could be stored for months in the harsh Walk to School Day at Echo Park Elementary New England winters. School in Burnsville For more information, visit: A healthy lifestyle consists not only of a healthy overall www.ba.ars.usda.gov/hb66/078jicama.pdf diet, but also plenty of physical activity. The recommended amount of physical activity for children Smart Choices is funded by Blue Cross and Blue Shield of is 60 minutes on Minnesota through its Prevention Minnesota Initiative and most days and 30 the Minnesota Department of Health's Statewide Health minutes for adults. Improvement Program (SHIP). For more Permission to use and adapt this material was received from the information, visit: California Department of Health, Network for a Healthy California. www.walktoschool. Original development funded by the USDA Supplemental Nutrition com Assistance Program (formerly the Food Stamp Program). These institutions are equal opportunity providers and employers.