What is the real difference between a fruit and a vegetable?

Answer 1

vegetables are roots, stems, or leaves of plants, while fruits are the swollen uterus of a flower or a conglomeration of whole flowers.

sounds yummy, huh?

Answer 2

My opinion is that all plants are vegetables. Fruits are a specific organ on almost all flowering plants. A fruit is defined as a developed ovary or seed case. It is the fleshy tissue that surrounds the seed(s). Some fruits are edible some not. Some are thick some are little more than a husk. By this definition such foods as tomatoes, cucumbers, squash, and avocados are fruits as are the ones we usually identify as such like apples and oranges. The strawberry which is usually thought of as a fruit is not. The actual fruits of that plant are the husks that surround the tiny seeds on the surface of "berry". The sweet red part we prize is really a modified stem. Some so-called fruits have lost their ability to form seeds (grapes, watermelon) but since that was their original function we can still call them fruits.

In terms of what we eat, if it is an ovary -- a seed case -- then it is a fruit and if it some other part of the plant such as the stem, root, leaf or tuber then is is a vegetable.

There have been attempts to legislate which edible plant parts were fruits and and which were vegetables. This caused a lot of rancor between scientists and lawmakers. In most cases the lawmakers were simply trying to define which items they could tax as luxury items. Even though the botanists said that tomatoes were fruits the lawmakers felt that since they weren't sweet they shouldn't be taxed as "fruits".

Answer 3

A vegetable you eat it and there's no more plant. A fruit you can eat and the plant survives to continue making new fruit. For instance you eat a potato and that plant is gone. Eat an apple and the apple tree still stands. Vegetables are grown for the plant to be eaten.

Answer 4

Fruiet is a proper botanical term used by botanists. It denotes the structure (often edible), that contains the plants seeds). Vegetable is not strictly a botanical term. It is used by the rest of us iincluding farmers to describe edible plants or edible portions of plants. Some of these have seeds, (like tomatoes), and some do not.(like celery stalks). Vegetable is term that has many meanings, that is used by laymen. Hope that helps. (if not check a botany textbook on the net or in your local library, for a more clever answer).
Dan.

Answer 5

don't quote me on this but i believe its because fruits contain seeds and vegetables dont

Answer 6

Fruits when cooked can make only Jam. Vegetables can make meals as well as soups.......and salads.........and they are greens .....lol

Answer 7

Isn't it that fruit grows from seeds and contain seeds...?