In many parts of the world, cold weather may mean one kind of vegetable is on your table, root vegetables! Root vegetables are plant roots. You must dig them up to eat them. Common root vegetables are the beet, parsnip, turnip, carrot, members of the onion family, garlic, celery root, turmeric, radish, including daikon and horseradish, and ginger. Root vegetables such as potatoes and yams are also members of the tuber family of vegetables. Some root vegetables, such as carrots, turnips, and beets, get sweeter once the weather first gets freezing cold. The cold causes the roots to work hard to prevent the plants from freezing. This causes the natural starches to turn into sugar. And sugar is the most important ingredient for a process called caramelization.