Fruit and vegetable are nothing new, we all know the importance of fruits and vegetables and eat them on a daily basis to provide our body necessary vitamins and minerals to keep ourselves healthy and fit. But if one were to be asked the difference between a fruit and a vegetable, he would be in a fix and can at best cite examples of each. It is therefore necessary to know the basis of classification of fruits and vegetables as well as their nutritional differences since they matter so much to us.
What is Fruit
Fruit is sweet, fleshy part of a plant such as oranges, apples, plums, guava, grapes etc. Speaking in scientific terms, a fruit is a mature ovary of a flower that contains seeds. We eat the fleshy part of the ovary and leave the seeds. Nature has meant to use fruits for dissemination of seeds through animals and birds that eat a little fruit and carry seeds to far places where they grow into another plant.
What is Vegetable
Vegetable is an edible part of a plant. As there is no botanical definition of a vegetable, all parts of plants that are eaten by human beings are classified as vegetables such as stem, leaves (cabbage), tuber (potato), roots (carrots and beets), bulbs (garlic) or even seeds (Peas). There are some flowers of a plant that are termed as vegetables such as broccoli.
Difference between Fruit and Vegetable
It is clear now that fruit is an ovary of a plant whereas all edible parts of a plant are vegetables. Since a fruit is also an edible part of a plant, it can be termed as a vegetable but the converse does not hold true. Another difference that is cited to differentiate between a fruit and a vegetable is that fruits contain large amounts of a sugar called fructose which is why they are sweet whereas vegetables contain fructose in traces only. This is this sweetness of fruits that attracts birds and animals thus serving the purpose of spreading the seeds of a plant.
There are many fruits that people consider and treat as vegetables such as tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers and pumpkins. Peas are seeds and as such should be categorized as fruits but are vegetables. There are many other fruits and vegetables that confuse people. However, the thing to remember is that whether fruits or vegetables, they are important sources of essential vitamins and minerals and we must include them in our daily diet.
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In brief: • Fruit is mature ovary of a flowering plant that contains seeds. Fruit has an outer covering and a sweet fleshy part inside. • Vegetable is any edible part of a plant such as root, tuber, stem, bulb or leaves. • Fruits have high levels of fructose that makes them sweet to attract birds and animals. These creatures eat the fruit and help in disseminating the seeds to grow other plants. • Both fruits and plants contain essential vitamins and minerals that we need on a daily basis to keep fit and healthy.
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