| MadSci Network: Botany |
There may be a list somewhere on the internet but I've not come across it. You can easily find fifty edible seeds, for humans, in most supermarkets. 1. Look in the bread aisle and you should be able to find more than a dozen, especially if they have 12-grain bread. A few kinds of seeds are even placed on top of some kinds of breads. 2. Look in the cooking oil and margarine sections as most edible oils come from seeds. Olive oil is an exception. Cottonseed oil is often used to make potato chips. 3. Edible "nuts" are seeds, including pine and ginkgo. Check the snack and candy aisles for about a dozen types of nuts. 4. Several spices are seeds. Check the spice aisle or a spice web page. 5. Some vegetables are seeds such as peas and beans. A few fruits and vegetables, such as tomato, pepper, kiwi, passionfruit, pomegranate and strawberry, contain seeds that are often eaten along with the fruit although they are not the main edible part. 6. One of our most common hot beverages is made from seeds as well as the popular candy named after me and the yellow stuff people put on hot dogs. 7. A few food additives come from seeds such as guar gum and carob. If you don't want to go to a supermarket, you can search for terms such as grains, nuts, spices, cooking oil, etc. with a google.com search. Also try a google.com search for edible seeds. Other terms to search for are economic botany or ethnobotany. Check the reference below for Native American uses of seeds. Your library might have a college economic botany textbook. Check amazon.com for titles. References Native American Ethnobotany Database Re: why are plants important to the human race?
Try the links in the MadSci Library for more information on Botany.