Aubergine / Eggplant

As well as the deep purple variety, there are white, mauve, green and striped varieties, although the purple and white are most widely available.

Beans, Peas

Interchangeable terms for red kidney beans, black beans, black-eyed peas, pigeon peas and yellow and green lentils.

Callaloo

This is a leafy, spinach-like vegetable.

Cassava / Manioc / Yucca

A rather large root vegetable, cassava has a tough brown skin with a very firm white flesh.

Coco or Eddo

A hairy root, about the size of a large potato, which they also taste like; they are starchy.  Pink or white in colour.

Cornmeal / Polenta

Cornmeal is a yellow grain, ground from corn (maize).

Dasheen / Coco / Taro / Tannia

Has a similar texture and flavour superior to that of a Jerusalem artichoke or potato.

Okra / Ladies Fingers

This finger-shaped vegetable and has green-ridges.  Has the mild flavour of runner-beans.

Peas, Congo, Gungoo or

Gungo, Kidney

Jamaicans refer to nearly all beans as "peas." Kidney beans are probably the most popular. They are the island's primary source of protein--even more than meat. Smaller peas are used in Rice and Peas while larger-sized peas often appear in savoury stews and side dishes.

Peppers

Fresh bell peppers are found in a wide range of colours. Starting out green, as they ripen and become sweeter, they turn yellow and then red.

Plantain

Technically a banana-family fruit, but generally regarded as a vegetable. Inedible raw, cooked plantains are served as appetizers or starchy side dishes. The unripe (green), ripe (yellow) and very ripe (dark) plantains are used in Caribbean cooking. They become slightly sweet as they ripen.

Sorrel

An annual plant, it is used in jelly and in juice. The leaves and young stems are edible and used in salads or cooked as a vegetable. Powdered dried red sorrel is added to commercial herb teas such as Red Zinger for flavour and colour.

Sweet Potato

The sweet potato is not related to the potato.  They are globular or elongated and may be white, pink, red or purpose.  The flesh is white to yellow and is very tender and sweet.

Yam

Similar in size and colour to the potato with a very tough, thick skin, nuttier in flavour' the flesh may be white, yellow, or, in one or two varieties purple.