What really counts as a vegetable?

[Pulse]

I have a friend who said that, and when I thought about it I realized she has a really good question. Because everything with a seed is technically a fruit. Which includes squash/zuchini,peas,all peppers, tomatoes, cucumber, green beans, lettuce, asparagus. Almost every veggie has a seed even onions. Bananas have a bulb like seed that you have to special order, because it isnt inside the fruit.

What do you think?

 

[Becky]

In my mind, 'fruits' are just things that taste sweeter. I appreciate that that isn't technically correct though!

How does that saying go... knowledge is knowing a tomato is a fruit, wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad

 

[Pulse]

Hahaha thats exactly how I view fruits.

 

[roadrunner]

I have a friend who said that, and when I thought about it I realized she has a really good question. Because everything with a seed is technically a fruit. Which includes squash/zuchini,peas,all peppers, tomatoes, cucumber, green beans, lettuce, asparagus. Almost every veggie has a seed even onions. Bananas have a bulb like seed that you have to special order, because it isnt inside the fruit.

What do you think?

Natural bananas (i.e. non-cultivated bananas) do have seeds in the fruit. Actually many types of wild bananas are packed with very hard seeds. Maybe there's an exception, but the common cultivated banana plants are all infertile, thus can only reproduce via "suckers", not thru sexual reproduction, i.e. they're all basically clones of the parent.

As for thinking about fruit as something sweet, I think that's basically how most think of fruits; however, I've also wondered about all the so-called vegetables with seeds (but I've never researched it). If a tomato is a fruit, because it has seeds in the part that is eaten, then it seems logical that much of what you mentioned in the OP should also be fruit.

Although, some things I wouldn't call fruit, such as peas and beans, because you're actually just eating the seed, same for sunflowers, they're not fruit, but you eat the seeds. But then you got the type of beans where you eat the covering...I don't know....

 

[Beth_B]

Hmm. At first I thought like Becky did - if it's savory, it's a vegetable, if not, then fruit.

But some vegetables - sweet potatoes or pumpkins - can be used either way. For UK members: sweet potato pie is a thing here, and delicious! Carrots and zucchini are used in baked goods.

So, I don't know. Y'all are making my head hurt. Good question, though!

 

[headfullofbees]

As far as I know, fruit is a seed AND its casing, so the definition is not quite correct.

 

[roadrunner]

I thought of this thread when I picked a bunch of tomatoes today; I had so many that I had to break out the dehydrator, because the only other way was to force feed myself before they all went bad. As I was double-checking the correct temp to set my dehydrator on, I noticed that it was much different between Veggies and fruits, so I double-checked my book to see how they classify tomatoes. They say they're in the group of veggies, so there you have it, tomatoes are veggies, not fruits -- case closed

BTW, here's a pic of my tomatoes. And no, I don't dehydrate the ones still not completely ripe.

 

[Becky]

Well just to stir the pot, I've just discovered that the State vegetable of Oklahoma is.... Watermelon

https://statesymbolsusa.org/symbol-official-item/oklahoma/state-food-agriculture-symbol/watermelon

 

[CrazyConure]

@roadrunner what variety of cherry tomatoes is that?

 

[roadrunner]

@roadrunner what variety of cherry tomatoes is that?

I don't know, I only buy cheap tomato seeds that don't even list the type of tomato.

I first got into gardening as a way to create habitat, period. I've slowly started producing things like tomatoes, just because...Although, I am thinking of getting some really good seeds and try it out, but as of yet I just do the cheap stuff. My primary focus is still habitat creation.

 

[CrazyConure]

Those tomatoes look amazing! I can just imagine the taste.

What do you do to create habitat?

 

[roadrunner]

Much of my plants I have in my little habitat (AKA my yard) are simply "weeds". I've torn up much of the grass in my yard and mulched over it using yard waste from around the neighborhood, i.e. bags of leaves and stuff left on the curb for city pick up. This provides the habitat that provides food, shelter and water (because it traps moisture so well) for countless living organisms, both micro and macro in size, including things like ladybugs which use the heavy mulch to seek shelter, especially in the winter. Some people buy things, like ladybugs for their gardens, only to find that once released the ladybugs soon depart, never to be seen again and that's because they need habitat. Aphids are nice, but they need other things to live in a single location.

Some of the 'weeds' I allow to grow are: Spiderwort, Stachys Floridana, Wood Sorrel, Blanket flower, and many others too many to list and still many others that I still have to identify. These so-called weeds are very important to all the pollinators, because many of them provide a food source I can't provide so early in the year as winter comes to an end.

 

[tbendl]

Well just to stir the pot, I've just discovered that the State vegetable of Oklahoma is.... Watermelon

https://statesymbolsusa.org/symbol-official-item/oklahoma/state-food-agriculture-symbol/watermelon

Hahahahahahaahaha

 

[Belmont]

Fruit is something that a plant produces that is intended to be removed from the plant. Apples, orange, lemons, bananas, and tomatoes are all fruit, because the plant grows its seeds in them with the hope they get consumed and the seeds spread. Thats my definition.

 

[roadrunner]

Yes, that is the definition. So that means these "sweet" jalapenos are fruits.