Traditional number of vegetables nearly always consumed by the French (12)
I believe the answer is:
greensleeves
'traditional number' is the definition.
I know nothing about this answer so I cannot judge whether this works.
'vegetables nearly always consumed by the french' is the wordplay.
'vegetables' becomes 'greens' (green is a kind of vegetable).
'nearly' means to remove the last letter.
'always' becomes 'ever' (synonyms).
'consumed by' indicates putting letters inside (inserted letters get consumed).
'the french' becomes 'les' (plural form of 'the' in French).
'ever' with its final letter taken away is 'eve'.
'eve' going inside 'les' is 'leeves'.
'greens'+'leeves'='GREENSLEEVES'
'of' acts as a link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for greensleeves that I've seen before include "Air essentially unchanged for centuries!?" , ""My lady" of old folk song" , "that might be noticed when lying on the lawn" , "Traditional Elizabethan folk tune and ballad" , "air of the past" .)