these roots and tubers are staple foods for billions of people They are subterranean organs in which plants store starch, large molecular aggregates of the sugars they create during photosynthesis They are therefore a concentrated and long-lived package of nourishment for us as well Some anthropologists theorize that roots and tubers may have helped fuel human evolution, when the climate of the African savanna cooled about 2 million years ago and fruits became scarce Because tubers were plentiful and far more nutritious when cooked — raw starch granules resist our digestive enzymes, while gelated starch does not — they may have offered a significant advantage to early humans who learned to dig for them and roast them in the embers of a fire Though some underground vegetables are a third or more starch by weight, many others — carrots, turnips, beets — contain little or no starch Because starch granules absorb moisture from their cells as they cook, starchy vegetables tend to have a dry, mealy texture, while nonstarchy vegetables remain moist and cohesive Food Words: Root, Radish, Tuber, Truffle Our word root comes from an IndoEuropean word that meant both “root” and “branch.” Radish and licorice share that same ancestor Tuber comes from an IndoEuropean (linguistic) root meaning “to swell,” as many plant storage organs do The same root gave us truffle, the swollen underground fungus, as well as thigh, thumb, tumor, and thousand Potatoes There are more than 200 species of potato, relatives of the tomato, chilli, and tobacco that are indigenous to moist, cool regions of ... The same root gave us truffle, the swollen underground fungus, as well as thigh, thumb, tumor, and thousand Potatoes There are more than 200 species of potato, relatives of the tomato, chilli, and tobacco that are indigenous to moist, cool regions of. ..moisture from their cells as they cook, starchy vegetables tend to have a dry, mealy texture, while nonstarchy vegetables remain moist and cohesive Food Words: Root, Radish, Tuber,... Our word root comes from an IndoEuropean word that meant both “root” and “branch.” Radish and licorice share that same ancestor Tuber comes from an IndoEuropean (linguistic) root meaning “to swell,” as many plant storage organs do The same root gave us truffle, the swollen