Technical Difference - Fruit vs Vegetable

 Hi, Everybody,

While this might sound absurdly obvious, this question
is *not* a troll.

Technically speaking, what is the difference between a
fruit and a vegetable?

I looked it up at

http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=fruit

http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=vegetable

http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=gourd

But it isn't quite clear.

I know that apples, oranges, bananas, and tomatoes are
considered fruits.

I *think* that lettuce, spinach, broccoli, couliflower
are vegetables.

But what about capsicum (bell pepper),
courgettes/zucchini, or cucumbers?  I always thought
that they were vegetables, but they have seeds in them.  
Are they technically fruit?  What distinguishes a
gourd?


Can anyone tell me the plain-english rule on this?

Thanks in advance...

 On Fri, 15 Oct 2004 05:22:32 UTC, Antipodean Bucket Farmer


You are right about that. However, if you are really as confused as you say:


Anything that is not an animal or a mineral must be a vegetable. The
vegetable is the entire plant, from roots to blossom and fruit (in the case
of flowering plants). In the realm of microorganisms, it is not always clear
what is an animal and what is a vegetable, so the distinction breaks down,
but I don't think that is what the question is about. The fruit is part of
the reproductive apparatus of flowering plants, and contains the seeds. It
should not be hard for most people to see what is the fruit, and what is the
rest of the vegetable. All that is botanical definition. Inasmuch as this
group is devoted to gardening, it is the governing definition.

Culinary definition is much more shaky, for obvious reasons. For the most
part, a botanical "fruit" is not a culinary "fruit" unless you can make a
dessert around it. Thus the fruits of eggplant, capsicum, tomato are not
culinary "fruits" because they aren't sweet; yet the fruit of the avocado is
a culinary "fruit", perhaps because that is so obvious, even to cooks. The
fruits of walnut trees and oaks aren't culinary "fruits" because of the
arbitrary nature of culinary definition. For more information on culinary
definitions, post your question on a group concerned with cooking.



 

Stan Goodman
Qiryat Tiv'on
Israel


Saddam is gone. Ceterum, censeo Arafat esse delendam.

 On 15 Oct 2004 08:28:38 GMT in


mmmmm.... avocado pudding....

 

Terribly sorry. I was focussed on trying to relate seriously to a query that
even the questioner knew was troll-like. I did remember, however, to hedge
that sentence with "for the most part". And, for the most part, people seem
to understood that.

--
Stan Goodman
Qiryat Tiv'on
Israel


Saddam is gone. Ceterum, censeo Arafat esse delendam.

 

Antipodean Bucket Farmer wrote:

Even though you have received a very thorough answer, let me try a short
version:

Between fruit and vegetable, it isn't either/or because most vegetables
produce some sort of fruit in their life cycle if you grow them to maturity.
With some vegetables, the part you eat is the root. (carrots)
With some vegetables, the part you eat is the leaves. (spinach)
With some vegetables, the part you eat is the seeds. (corn)
With some vegetables, the part you eat is the developing flower head.
(broccoli)
With some vegetables, the part you eat is the fruit. (tomatoes)
etc.
etc.

Steve