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What's the difference between a fruit and a vegetable? |
Nutrition
The way that we tell fruits and vegetables apart in our day-to-day lives (and in the kitchen!) is mostly based on how they taste and how they’re eaten or cooked. In general, we think of fruits as foods that grow on trees, taste sweet, and can almost always be eaten without cooking. We tend to think of vegetables, on the other hand, as foods that grow in or near the ground, taste savory, and are sometimes eaten raw but sometimes need to be cooked, too.
However, a botanist (plant scientist) would use an entirely different system!
According to science, a vegetable is any part of a plant that can be eaten, like leaves, stems, or roots. (Think lettuce, asparagus, and beets.) A fruit is also the edible part of a plant, but refers specifically to the edible part of a plant that has come from its ripe flower! For that reason, many foods that we call vegetables are actually considered fruits by scientists!
Fruits in disguise!
Can you think of any foods that are technically a “fruit” but mostly thought of as a veggie??
Some answers are squashes, pumpkins, eggplants, cucumbers, and even peppers!
Can you think of any others? One good clue is that foods that are technically fruits have seeds. What other seeded fruits do you eat like a vegetable?
- Anderson, Michelle. “Fruits vs. vegetables.” 1 Jun. 2008. Delicious Living. 23 Dec. 2010
- McRae, Shelly. “Fruits Vs. Vegetables.” GardenGuides.com. 23 Dec. 2010
- “What is the difference between a fruit and a vegetable?” YES Mag. 23 Dec. 2010
As per the terminology, fruits are developed from flower sexually or asexually and we consume the fruit directly as most. While vegetable include whole plant as we eats leaf, stem, roots, collar, flower and fruits. But among the fruits we can distinguess vegetable and fruit by the process of coocking as in general we cook the vegetable while we don't the fruit.
Fruits are the plants ovaries and are used to disperse the seeds through animal droppings, while vegetables are not.
Source: http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/2332726/the_difference_between_a_fruit_and.html?cat=22