Jerry Minnich considered the nutritional content of 89 common and not so common fruits and vegetables then developed lists of all-star garden crops.  In case you're curious, here's his list (in declining order of importance) of the crops that provide the most nutrition per serving: leaf amaranth, sunflower seeds, broccoli, soybeans, almonds, navy beans, collards, cowpeas, potatoes, dandelion greens, peanuts, peas, avocados, lima beans, great northern beans, kidney beans, okra, watermelons, kale, spinach, butternut squash, sweet potato, and turnip greens.  Are you as shocked as I am to see that the only fruit that makes the top 23 is the watery watermelon?

Minnich also provides another list of vegetables that I choose to call multivitamins.  While the previous list merely takes into account the total nutrition coming from the crop, this list looks at versatility and chooses vegetables that provide a little bit of all or most of the top vitamins and minerals: broccoli, leaf amaranth, lima beans, cowpeas, watermelons, almonds, collards, peas, potatoes, soybeans, and sunflower seeds.  Why not choose a plant off this list to go with your dinner every day rather than popping that multivitamin pill?

Keep in mind that these lists of nutritious vegetables are based on USDA serving size, which I suspect might be why they're so strongly weighted toward seeds.  Half a cup of cooked beans is one serving (350 calories) versus half a cup of broccoli (15 calories), 1 cup of collards (11 calories), or half a cup of watermelon (23 calories.)  Another list in the book breaks 39 of the most common foods down by pound per pound nutrition, which is probably more useful (though dry weight would be even more useful).  That list is topped by broccoli, spinach, Brussels sprouts, lima beans, peas, asparagus, globe artichokes, cauliflower, sweet potatoes, and carrots.

Clearly, the healthiest vegetable is still up for debate (although it can't hurt to cultivate a liking for broccoli.)  Still, we've decided to try out a few of these high nutrition crops next year:

• Leaf amaranth --- We're experimenting with grain amaranth this year, but are going to have to spread out and try leaf amaranth next year.  The latter is a summer green, which is a category underrepresented in our garden.  (We only grow swiss chard during hot weather.)  Since amaranth provides a hearty dose of calcium, iron, potassium, vitamin A, riboflavin, and vitamin C, along with lesser amounts of protein and niacin, it's hard to turn down.
• Dandelion greens --- We already gather these in the wild in the early spring, but I've nearly been pushed over the edge into buying a cultivated version and finding it a bed in the forest garden.
• Naked seed pumpkin --- These come under a huge variety of names, such as Eat All Squash, Sweet Nut Squash, Styrian Pumpkin, Lady Godiva Pumpkin, Kakai Pumpkin, etc.  The idea is that the seeds don't have a hull, so they don't require any processing before eating (except roasting, drying, or whatever you like to do with squash seeds.)  The downside is that the squash's flesh isn't very good compared to our darling butternuts so people usually give the insipid flesh to livestock and grow something tastier for pies.