A fruit , botanically speaking , is a seed - bearing structure . It develops originally from what is call the ovary of its blossom female parent plant and include Oliver Stone fruit such as peaches , nectarine and plums as well as apples , berry , pears and even banana . vegetable , botanically speaking , are the stem , leaves and even stem of a plant .
So , why is a tomato plant considered a veg ? The tomato is one food for thought item that is so often misrepresented as a vegetable that it is just and legally deal a vegetable even though it ’s a fruit genetically . Confused ? There are a few way to analyze this whole fruit / veggie dilemma and get down to the shit basics of the difference of opinion between a fruit and a vegetable .
Fruit vs. Vegetable
Is an apple a fruit or veggie ? Is an avocado a vegetable or fruit ? There is one scientific mode to correct the fruit vs. vegetable question .
Gardeners define yield and vegetables other than than the home chef . A nurseryman will aright classify a fruit by how it is grown . If it comes from a flowering mother works ’s subdivision , then it is a fruit , and if it is part of the existent plant , then it is a vegetable .
A chef will call eggplant , Melville Bell peppers and tomatoes veggie because they are often used in savory dishes . However , since they grow from a florescence works , they are botanically considered a yield . The piquant fruits have long been considered vegetable .

History of the Debate
The yield vs. vegetable debate has a long history . The confusion about what is a yield and what is a veggie can be follow back to a money effect : taxes , to be specific .
In 1893 , the tribunal decree in the case of Nix v. Hedden that a tomato plant that crossed into United States dirt should be assess as a veg . Why did this reddish , round food demand the United States Supreme Court to make a judgement on its categorization ? If it had been considered a fruit , then it would have had a lower tax levied on its ripe good .
While the court did recognize that the tomato is a yield botanically speaking , its main economic consumption was in the form of a savory dish in the kitchen . chef think the tomato a vegetable , so the Supreme Court think so too . So , technically , ketchup made from tomatoes is considered a vegetable , which the res publica of New Jersey decided in a bill presented in its 2005 legislative academic term .
The Avocado Issue
The soft , gentle , light-green flesh of the avocado surrounds a solid ejaculate as large as a golf ball . This should clearly classify it as a fruit . However , it is often associated with its grocery store counterparts that are take vegetables . The fleshy flesh is used in salads , side smasher and charmer , gain it one of the more various yield that masquerade as a vegetable when target on the dinner party table .
The California Avocado Commission is hoping more people see the theory of the pale green form as a fruit . It late announced that the avocado is actually a berry – botanically speaking , of course .
Potato and Other Roots
Fried , sunbaked , sautéed or boil , the tater is one of the most well - known and consumed vegetables , although it is really a stem . The starchy tuber grows from short branch that are call in runner . The stolons are tie to the leafy light-green plant above the surface .
Roots are comestible plants that grow underground . They have a leafy top , often fragile and willowy to souse up sunlight and nutrients to feed to its bulbous roots that grow so well below the garden . Root vegetables let in onions , cultivated carrot , sweet potato , turnips , Japanese radish and common beet .
Surprising Vegetables and Fruits
Ginger , turmeric , garlic and fennel are often used as spices in savory dishes . However , the blossoming plants ' bulbous roots are class as veg and can be made into a all-inclusive assortment of comestible treats . These can be used sliced thinly in meat dish , mashed and suffice on the side and put into mouth-watering smoothies and soups . These root vegetables are chock full of antioxidant .
Other yield often mistaken as vegetables admit :