Nature has its ways, and botanic sciences categorizes fruits and vegetables into separate segments. Only few know the actual scientific difference between fruits and vegetables.
Fruits are the developed reproductive parts of a plant, and all the other plant parts, that do not have a set classification, are vegetables.
To break it down in simple words: Vegetable is a very loose term, and if it has seeds (reproductive parts), it's botanically a fruit.
Here are 17 such cases that we know as vegetables and that are actually botanically considered fruits.
Note that there is still a difference between botanical and culinary classification. Just because it's botanically classified as a fruit, it doesn't mean that it falls under the same umbrella in the culinary world.
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Tomato
Scientifically known as a fruit, the tomato is used as a vegetable in cooking. The US Supreme Court ruled in 1893 that tomatoes are a vegetable.
But of course, that won't change the biology or the way tomatoes grow in the US or anywhere in the world.
Avocado
Avocados grow on trees with large leaves and technically, they are not just fruits but oversized berries.
They are the only ones of their kind that contain good, healthy monounsaturated fats.
Bell Pepper & Chili Pepper
Bell Pepper and Chili Pepper are from the same family, and they grow from cute white flowers.
They come in all shapes and heat variations. Sweet ones are known as bell pepper, capsicum, or paprika.
Cucumber
Cucumbers taste bland and perhaps that's why we started to see them all as vegetables, as we have been preparing our salads and sandwiches with cucumbers.
But, alas, the cucumber grows out of a vibrant yellow flower and the finished result is a cucumber fruit.
Olives
Olives thrive on trees, and some of these trees are age-old. They are clearly fruits as they have a pit.
Fun fact, green and black olives grow on the same tree and are not a different variety. The green ones are picked before they ripen, and the black ones are simply ripe olive fruits.
Gourds
Gourds grow on vines, they come in many variations, and they are all fruits, even if non are actually sweet in flavor.
This includes gourds such as kalabash (bottle gourd), snake gourd, bitter melon and ridge gourd to just name a few.
Kiwano
That brings us to the Kiwano, aka the horned melon, which is technically also a gourd, and therefore a fruit, but it's at least almost always sold in the fruit section of grocery stores.
Yet, the odd-ball kiwano isn't sweet at all, in fact, it tastes relatively like a cucumber.
Peas
All pea varieties grow in a pod and the pod in turn is formed from a white or colorful flower, which matures on a vine.
Culinary we will always see peas as vegetables, but botanically they are fruits.
Green Beans
Following the pea logic, the same goes for french beans (aka french beans, haricot) and essentially all bean legume varieties.
This includes wax beans, purple string beans, yard-long beans, guar beans, lablab beans and fava beans.
Okra
The first time I saw an okra grow from a plant, I saw the remains of the flower. I have to say, okra grows weird.
They are botanical fruits, but culinary they are most definitely used like a vegetable.
Squash
Squash are related to cucumbers and gourds and yes, they are fruits! They have seeds and if you paid attention when roasting a squash, you will have noticed that they are also naturally sweet.
Squash are split into winter and summer squash varieties. For example, zucchini is summer squash and butternut and patty pan squash are winter squash varieties.
Moringa Pods
You might have come across Moringa, as it has been named a super food lately, but what they are talking about are the crushed dried leaves of a Moringa tree.
The tree grows in tropical regions with these elongated 1-2 foot long and slim fruits that are known as Moringa pods or drumsticks. These are fruits but are used as a vegetable, for example to make a moringa pod curry.
Eggplant
Eggplants, also called Aubergines, come in many shapes and colors, and they are all growing as fruits from smaller plants.
The seeds in an eggplant are not always visible, but some varieties grow seeds that are slightly harder.
Corn
Who would have thought that corn kernels count as fruits? The fact is, the cob is the fruit body and each kernel is a fruit by itself.
The seed is fused to the kernel, and it's not visible by itself, explaining why we hadn't seen corn as a fruit before.
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