>Fruit or vegetable? Will anyone ever be able to tell the difference? Can fruits be vegetables? Can veggies be fruit? Ultimately, does it matter? Is there a reason to care if the age old dilemma is ever solved?
Well, to start with the last question. Probably not. That being said, a fruit is technically defined as the sweet, ripened ovary or ovaries of a seed-bearing plant. Pretty specific. A vegetable on the other hand has a much broader definition, it is an herbaceous plant cultivated for an edible part, including seeds, roots, stems, leaves, bulbs, tubers and non-sweet fruits.
So to illustrate the point more effectively, a tomato is a non-sweet fruit, therefore making it a vegetable. Depending on your line of argument, a tomato cannot be termed a fruit per the definition of a fruit because it is not sweet. Therefore, it cannot be categorized by the definition of a fruit, which is a “sweet, ripened ovary.”
Some people argue a fruit can be a vegetable, but a veggie cannot be a fruit. However, when you look at this argument, it is false. Per the definitions, the two are mutually exclusive. a non-sweet fruit is an oxymoron and would be better termed a non-sweet ovary/ovaries of a particular plant or perhaps simply a tomato, cucumber or avocado if you don’t want the other people at the table to look at you funny.
While I could play devil’s advocate for hours, I will be succinct and simply state the obvious.
A sweet ovary/ovaries is/are a fruit. Non-sweet ovary/ovaries is/are a vegetable. Should the definition of fruit not contain the word sweet, everything would be different. But it does, so it isn’t.
At the Ymker Greenhouse, we carry a wide array of vegetables and fruits. We will let you choose which you call what. While you ponder the terms, choose between 150 varieties. For the purpose of the website fruit trees have been listed under Trees and Shrubs; you should look for them there.
Bon appetit.
>[autonav display=”images” pics_only=”1″ columns=”4″]