Is a tomato a fruit?
The world really has two different meanings for the word fruit.
There is the use of the word when you go to the grocery store, and then
there's the use of the word by a botanist.
In the grocery store, we generally understand a fruit
to be a natural plant product that is sweet, and a vegetable to be a
natural plant product that is not sweet. In this standard definition,
apples, strawberries, grapes and bananas are all fruits, while green
beans, tomatoes, squash and potatoes are all vegetables.
What exactly is a fruit?
The term fruit has many 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 the surrounding tissues. Fruits are the means by which flowering
plants disseminate seeds.
What exactly is a Vegetables?
The term "vegetable" generally refers to the edible part
of a plant. The definition is traditional rather than scientific. It
is somewhat arbitrary and subjective, as it is determined by individual
cultural customs of cooking and food preparation.
Is a banana a fruit or a herb?
Both >> A banana (the yellow thing you peel and eat)
is undoubtedly a fruit (containing the seeds of the plant: see answer
regarding tomatoes), though since commercially grown banana plants are
sterile, the seeds are reduced to little specks. However, the banana
plant, though it is called a 'banana-tree' in popular usage, is technically
regarded as a herbaceous plant (or 'herb'), not a tree, because the
stem does not contain true woody tissue.
