Fruit is the edible reproductive body of a seed plant, which is most often sweet and enjoyed as dessert like berries and melons. (Vegetables are other parts of plants: the stalks, the leaves or the roots.) Some plant varieties with a savory flavor are also considered fruits due to their seeded nature. From eggplants to olives, unexpected fruits are all around us. You probably think you know everything you need to know about fruit, but here are fifteen facts about this delicious food group that just might surprise you:
1. A drupe is a stone fruit. Drupes
have a hard pit or stone, which can be freestone or clingstone. Peaches, plums
and cherries are drupes, but so are walnuts, almonds and pecans (although we
eat the seed inside these instead of the fruit).
2. Prunes like to be called dried plums.
The California Dried Plum board conducted research showing that women ages 25
to 54 respond more favorably to the name dried plums instead of prunes.
3. Bananas in a bag can ripen avocados. If
you’ve got an avocado that’s just not ready to eat, throw it in a paper bag
with a ripe banana or apple. The ethylene gas produced by the banana or apple
will expedite the ripening of the avocado.
4. All
fruit contains fiber, but raspberries have more fiber per cup (8 grams) than
other berries.
5. Coconut and avocados are the only fruits, which
derive most of their calories from fat. Most fruit is fat-free because the
calories come from carbohydrate.
6. Bell
peppers (squash, cucumbers, and pumpkins) are fruits rather than vegetables.
7. Oranges aren’t your best source of vitamin C.
Most fruits and veggies contain vitamin C. Kiwis have twice as much vitamin C
as oranges, and contain additional vitamins and minerals like potassium.
8. Every Hass Avocado can be traced back to the
original Hass Mother Tree. According to the California Avocado
Commission, the Hass Avocado is a California native. The Hass variety was
discovered in La Habra Heights, CA.
9. Your apple may be older than you think. With
advances in cold storage technology, that apple harvested in the fall may be
stored until it is sold the following spring or summer.
10.
Peel your
pomegranates under water. If you struggle to get the arils
(seeds) out of a pomegranate, try cutting the pomegranate in half, and
submerging it in a bowl of water. The seeds pop right out, the pith floats to
the top and it’s a lot less messy than trying to cut it up on a countertop.
11.
Grapefruit
and certain medications can be a killer combination. When
combined with certain types of medication, such as statins for lowering
cholesterol, grapefruit and grapefruit juice can cause too much or too little
medicine to be released into the body.
12.
Genetically, peaches and nectarines
are quite similar. The primary difference is the fact that peach has fuzz on
its skin while a nectarine does not.
13.
Apple
bananas have nothing to do with apples. If you’ve been to Hawaii and sampled
the tiny and delicious apple banana, you may have wondered about its name. When
the apple banana is young, its tangy and sweet taste has apple nuances. When
ripened, the flavor becomes more tropical—similar to pineapple and strawberry
in taste. But there are no actual apples in apple bananas.
14.
Square watermelons are grown into a
cube and are popular in Japan where small refrigerators mean space is at a
premium.
15.
A jackfruit can weigh up to 100
pounds, and grow as big as 3 feet in length.
“In every forest, on every
farm, in every orchard on earth, it's what's under the ground that creates
what's above the ground that's why placing your attention on the fruits that
you have already grown is futile. You cannot change the fruits that are already
hanging on the tree. You can, however, change tomorrow's fruits. But to do so,
you will have to dig below the ground and strengthen the roots.” (T. Harv Eker) [i]
[i] Sources used:
“15 Things You Didn't Know About Fruit” by Katie Ferraro
“5 Foods You Didn’t Know Were Fruits” by ONEjive
“The Most Surprising Fruits Commonly Mistaken for Vegetables” by Aol.com Editors
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