What's the difference between a fruit and a vegetable?

Answer 1

The term fruit has different meanings depending on context. In botany, a fruit is the ripened ovary—together with seeds—of a flowering plant. In many species, the fruit incorporates the ripened ovary and surrounding tissues. Fruits are the means by which flowering plants disseminate seeds. In cuisine, when discussing fruit as food, the term usually refers to just those plant fruits that are sweet and fleshy, examples of which include plum, apple and orange. However, a great many common vegetables, as well as nuts and grains, are the fruit of the plant species they come from. No one terminology really fits the enormous variety that is found among plant fruits. Botanical terminology for fruits is inexact and will remain so.” (Wikipedia.org)

Vegetable is a culinary term. Its definition has no scientific value and is somewhat arbitrary and subjective. All parts of herbaceous plants eaten as food by humans, whole or in part, are generally considered vegetables. Mushrooms, though belonging to the biological kingdom, fungi, are also commonly considered vegetables…Since ‘vegetable’ is not a botanical term, there is no contradiction in referring to a plant part as a fruit while also being considered a vegetable. Given this general rule of thumb, vegetables can include leaves (lettuce), stems (asparagus), roots (carrots), flowers (broccoli), bulbs (garlic), seeds (peas and beans) and of course the botanical fruits like cucumbers, squash, pumpkins, and capsicums.” (Wikipedia.org)

To really figure out if a tomato is a fruit or vegetable, you need to know what makes a fruit a fruit, and a vegetable a vegetable. The big question to ask is, DOES IT HAVE SEEDS?

If the answer is yes, then technically, you have a FRUIT. This, of course, makes your tomato a fruit. It also makes cucumbers, squash, green beans and walnuts all fruits as well. VEGETABLES such as, radishes, celery, carrots, and lettuce do NOT have seeds (that are part of what we eat) and so they are grouped as vegetables.

Well, you did ask!

Answer 2

A fruit is the matured ovary of a flower, containing the seed. After fertilization takes place and the embryo (plantlet) has begun to develop, the surrounding ovule becomes the fruit. Yum. I won't go on about the four types of fruit--simple, aggregate, multiple and accessory--which explain things like berries and pineapples.

A vegetable is considered to be edible roots, tubers, stems, leaves, fruits, seeds, flower clusters, and other softer plant parts. In common usage, however, there is no exact distinction between a vegetable and a fruit. The usual example is the tomato, which is a fruit, but is eaten as a vegetable, as are cucumbers, peppers, melons, and squashes. The classification of plants as vegetables is largely determined by custom, culture, and usage.

Okay, now the part which may surprise you. A grain is described as the dry fruit of a cereal grass, such as the "seedlike fruits of the buckwheat and other plants, and the plants bearing such fruits." So, grain is also a fruit.

Which brings us to the nut. Yes, you guessed it, a nut is, in botany, "a dry, one-seeded, usually oily fruit." True nuts include the acorn, chestnut, and hazelnut. The term nut also refers to any seed or fruit with a hard, brittle covering around an edible kernel, like the peanut, which is really a legume. A legume is defined as "(the) name for any plant of the pulse family; more generally, any vegetable. Botanically, a legume--a pod that splits along two sides, with the seeds attached to one of the sutures--is the characteristic fruit of the pulse family." Say what? A "pulse" is "the common name for Leguminosae or Fabaceae, a large family of herbs, shrubs, and trees, also called the pea, or legume, family. " Please, make it stop!

So I guess we have learned today that just about everything is a fruit, unless of course, it's a vegetable or a legume. Aren't you glad you asked?


Cave

Answer 3

According to askoxford.com, the Oxford Dictionary online, they are defined as follows:

True fruits are developed from the ovary in the base of the flower, and contain the seeds of the plant (though cultivated forms may be seedless). Blueberries, raspberries, and oranges are true fruits, and so are many kinds of nut. Some plants have a soft part which supports the seeds and is also called a 'fruit', though it is not developed from the ovary: the strawberry is an example.

The term 'vegetable' is more generally used of other edible parts of plants, such as cabbage leaves, celery stalks, and potato tubers, which are not strictly the fruit of the plant from which they come.

As far as cooking is concerned, some things which are strictly fruits may be called 'vegetables' because they are used in savoury rather than sweet cooking. The tomato, though technically a fruit, is often used as a vegetable, and a bean pod is also technically a fruit.

Answer 4

There difference between a fruit and vegetable is that fruit generally have seeds. Vegetables often grow in the ground. So, a tomotoe would be a fruit as well as grapes, strawberries and apples. While carrots, broocoli and cauliflower would all be vegetables.

Answer 5

Botanically, a fruit is an organ that develops from the ovary of a flowering plant and contains one or more seeds.

Fruits may be classified in various ways. Often they are divided into three main groups. These include:

Simple fruits which are formed from one flower in which the pistil consist of either one carpel ( monocarpous) or of several fused together (syncarpous).

Aggregate fruits, which are formed from one flower in which the pistil consists of several free carpels (Apocarpous).

Multiple fruits which are basically formed from several parts of a flower that is other parts of the flower become fused after fertilization.

Answer 6

Basically, fruit grows from bushes and trees and bears seeds. Vegetables don't bear seeds and grow from the ground.

Answer 7

fruits produce their own seeds. Vegetables have to grow another way, such as in the form of roots.

Answer 8

Veggieis have no seeds . Plus the vitamins are differant

Answer 9

In the superstore, fruits are usually picked out far too soon. Some are rocks, many are bad. Some of the fresh vegetables are generally right (zucchini, onions, garlic, lettuce, greens, and a few others) so I'd have to go with vegetables.

Answer 10

One acts silly and one sits around doing nothing all day...

pssst...all fruits and veggies have seeds..."seedless" means the seeds are bred to be small...