How is a fruit different from a vegetable?
What lies behind the words "fruit" and
"vegetable," as well as the difference between the two definitions,
is taught in high school in botany classes. As a rule, if your life is not
connected with science, then as an adult you can easily get lost in botanical
intricacies, not even mentioning the lackluster school explanations. Nothing
bad will happen, but in discussions about the nature of peaches and tomatoes,
there is an opportunity to beat the nuts.
We decided to repeat what we went through, to repeat this
simple lesson once and for all, about which we talked with Vladimir Viktorovich
Chub, director of the Botanical Garden of the Biology Faculty of Moscow State
University. His response is in front of you.
Fruits and vegetables are words of Latin origin. Fructus is
“fruit” and vegetables are botanical and mean “plant parts”. Apparently, with
the appearance of these words in Latin, the division of the crop into fruits
and vegetables appeared. This division is firmly rooted in the people - the
roots of which can also be seen These words are in other languages. In the
Russian language, at first, the word “vegetarian” was used to denote any edible
plants, and only in the era of Peter I, the word “fruit” was borrowed from
Western languages.
Tradition
From a formal point of view, fruits should belong to fruits,
some tubers, leaves, roots, and bulbs - to vegetables. But in everyday life, a
different situation took hold, and many fruits (“fruits”) began to be classified
as vegetables. There are several reasons for this. First, most likely, the
technology for processing some fruits was often similar to the technology for
processing vegetables. Second, this shift from one category to another was
probably because some fruits were introduced along with the vegetable parts
("vegetables"). Thirdly, fruits with a neutral taste, less sweet,
those that are traditionally eaten with salt are attributed to vegetables.
Zucchini, tomatoes, peppers, eggplants - all these, of course, are fruits
("fruits"), but in everyday life, they are usually referred to as
vegetables.
Furthermore, there is another common household criterion
that allows people to determine where the fruit is and where the vegetable is.
Vegetables are believed to be herbaceous plants, while fruits grow on shrubs
and trees. You are improbable to take off any vegetables from the tree. This
division has become entrenched in the modern world.
At the same time, sometimes some plants are difficult for
people to attribute to fruits or vegetables. Take the same grape leaves from
which the dolma is made. How do you call them in everyday life? The language
does not dare call it a vegetable, although it is unclear how it differs in
cooking from cabbage leaves. In Southeast Asia, flowers of leguminous plants
are often used: they are put in salads, in soups, they are very nutritious and
give a pleasant note to dishes. Therefore, these flowers grow on trees, like a
fruit, but the technology of use classifies them more as a vegetable. It is
difficult to call them to plant parts, but this is not a fruit either. It is
also not clear how to be here. And in such cases, people use the definitions
adopted in classical botany.
Science
In classical botany, everything is different, everything is
thinner and there is no division into fruits and vegetables. It is customary to
indicate the part of the plant in question. Botanical scientific terminology
allows you to not get confused and clearly understand which part of the plant
you are dealing with. Is it true, do people need it in the kitchen? In everyday
life, a common classification is more convenient - it is practical and
immediately indicates the method of consumption.
The botanical terms are as follows:
Bulbs: classic onions and garlic.
Tubers: stem root - potato, taro, or rootstock (the
so-called root tubers), like sweet potato.
Stems: asparagus, bamboo shoots, cabbage, which are grown to
obtain a thick spherical stem.
Roots: carrots, beets, radishes.
Leaves: lettuce, Chinese cabbage, cabbage, herbs.
Inflorescences and edible flowers: capers, cauliflower,
broccoli, salted gondola flowers of Georgia.
Fruits: tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, okra or small corn
cobs, and berries are among the fruits.
Botanical parts of trees: grape leaves mentioned.
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