What Is the Difference Between Fruit and Vegetables?

Botanical Knowledge: Fruit or Vegetable?

A fruit is a flower in its state of seed maturity; it represents the sexual reproductive organs of a plant. When the seeds inside are capable of germinating to form a new plant, the fruit is botanically mature.

Vegetables, however, are all those plant parts consumed by humans (raw or cooked) that do not serve the plant’s sexual reproduction. These can be leaves (spinach), stems (celery), roots (carrots), or tubers (kohlrabi).

The Fine Print: Botanical Fruit vs. Culinary Fruit

Within the "fruit" world, there are many sub-classifications. The most common culinary classification defines "Fruit" as anything that can be eaten fresh and has a sweet flavor. Anything that usually requires preparation or is savory is often called a "Fruit Vegetable." This is where definitions get blurry. The bell pepper is the best example: it can be eaten raw and tastes slightly sweet, yet it is mostly used in savory cooked dishes or salads.

Checklist: How to tell them apart

• Must the plant be sown every year? (Yes = usually a vegetable)
• Does the edible part grow from a flower? (Yes = usually fruit/fruit vegetable)
• Do you eat the root or the leaf? (Yes = always a vegetable)

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Different Types of Fruit

• Berry: Botanists speak of a berry when the fruit's skin is fleshy or juicy in the broadest sense, that is, when there is pulp. Examples of such "botanical berries" are currants and bell peppers.
• Stone Fruit: If the inner part of the fruit skin - the so-called "endocarp" - is woody, it is a stone fruit. Classic drupes are cherries, peaches, and plums.
• Nut: If the entire shell of the fruit is lignified, it is called a nut in botany, such as the hazelnut.
• Aggregate fruits are when several small individual fruits have grown together to form one large fruit. For example, the raspberry is an aggregate stone fruit.

Botany is like its own language, with its own vocabulary. I hope I've introduced you to a few of them in this text, and that you've picked up a few fun facts and clever jokes for your next garden fence conversation with your neighbor! And let's face it: all these definitions are pretty irrelevant - the main thing is that the plants grow and the harvest tastes good. The intuitive understanding we have of fruits and vegetables is usually enough: if it's savory, it's a vegetable; if it's sweet, it's a fruit.

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