Are You Fruit & Veggie Savvy?

Celebrate June as Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Month by solving these riddles. The answers just happen to score among the top 20 fruits and vegetables for antioxidant power, as measured by the ORAC (Oxygen Radical Absorbance Capacity) method. The ORAC test is one way researchers determine the antioxidant activity of foods. After you solve the riddles, stock up on fresh fruits and veggies. Summer is the easiest time to get the recommended five servings of fruits and vegetables each day.1. You love me in a muffin and as dessert, too; small, plump, and juicy, my color is blue.________________________2. Watch out for thorns when you pick this treat; I’m a berry, black and sweet.________________________3. They call me the “stinking rose;” vampire-slayers wear me under their clothes.________________________4. Wind, snow, sleet or hail, I’m a leafy green—I’m _ _ _ _.________________________5. Breakfast, lunch dessert or dinner I’m a popular red berry that’s sure to be a winner!________________________6. I’m a leafy green that’s tried and true; eat me raw and eat me cooked too.________________________7. A “baby cabbage” named for a city in Europe; don’t wrinkle your nose, just eat me up.________________________8. Eat me for breakfast, lunch or snack; or eat me in a corner, just like Jack.________________________9. I’m a handsome white vegetable that is actually a flower. I will remind you of broccoli and bring great phyto-power!________________________10. You eat my green flowers, oh so delicious; I’m the most popular cruciferous.________________________11. Red and sweet, I’m a vegetable treat. ________________________12. In popularity, I’m number three; only apples and bananas are fruits eaten more than me.________________________13. Red or green, I grow on a vine Besides a great snack They use me for raisins and wine.________________________14. My cousins are hot, but I’m red and sweet. On tacos and salads, I can’t be beat.________________________15. Small, round and juicy I’m no berry. Life’s the pits without a________________________16. A fuzzy brown bird gave me my name. With my pretty green color, fruit salad will never be the same.________________________17. Don’t go on a diet just to eat me. I’m a citrus fruit that’s tasty as can be!________________________18. I make you cry but you’re not sad. Peel me and use me and your heart will be glad.________________________19. Canned, popped, or on the cob, I’m a little kernel that can do any job.________________________20. Though my name may be deceiving, I’m a purple vegetable that’s well worth eating.________________________Answers:1. Blueberry, 2. Blackberry, 3. Garlic,4. Kale, 5. Strawberry, 6. Spinach,7. Brussels sprouts, 8. Plum,9. Cauliflower, 10. Broccoli, 11. Beets,12. Orange, 13. Grapes, 14. Red pepper, 15. Cherry, 16. Kiwi fruit, 17. Grapefruit, 18. Onion, 19. Corn, 20. Eggplant.By Hollis Bass, MEd, RD