Do you know the difference between fruits and vegs?

"The One" and I were hving lunch and hving small talks when the topic of "whats the difference between fruits and vegetables?" were brought up..

"The One" mentioned that his teacher told him, 'anything with seeds is fruits and anything without is vegs", I seriously do not remember what my teacher said about fruits and vegs (see how 'good' a student i'm? hehehe) and we went into questionings each others with..

"what about cucumber? egg plants? tomatoes?" are they fruits or vegs? I told "The One", might be its the difference in Vit C content that makes it fruits? Since Fruits hv high Vit C content? but think of brussel sprouts? (they hv high Vit C content but are they fruits??)...so after some "good thinking cap discussion", we decided to turn to the internet to google some info. This is what we found...

Difference between fruits and Vegetables

".....The answer depends on who you are: a scientist? a greengrocer? I'll give you the botanist's answer:A fruit is the ripened (swollen) ovary of a flower. The ovary ripens when the ovules inside have been fertilized. Seeds of flowering plants always are found inside fruits. Botanists generally don't use the word vegetable to mean a plant or even a plant part. The basic parts are roots, stems, leaves flowers/fruit/seeds. Vegetable is a grocery store term: Tomatoes are called vegetables to distinguish them from the sweeter fruits like peaches. Carrots are called vegetables but the part we eat is of course a root. ...." - Taken from http://forums.gardenweb.com/forums/load/teach/msg011956409905.html answered by Cathy

"A fruit is actually the sweet, ripened ovary or ovaries of a seed-bearing plant. A vegetable, in contrast, is an herbaceous plant cultivated for an edible part (seeds, roots, stems, leaves, bulbs, tubers, or nonsweet fruits). So, to be really nitpicky, a fruit could be a vegetable, but a vegetable could not be a fruit." - Taken from http://ask.yahoo.com/20010411.html

Depend on who you are, the words meant a little difference. However, it is not based on simple term of 'anything with seeds are fruits and anything without are vegetables' or the 'theory' of Vit C content...so there u go, I hope you learnt something new today, Just as "The One" and I did :)


Cheerios and keep smiling!
With Love from PoohBear

Picture taken from http://www.healthier-harvest.com