The botanical meaning of fruit is a pretty big umbrella, with many categories and subcategories, and is not very useful for culinary discussions. Pumpkins are a type of berry (subcategory pepo), for instance. Other botanical fruits include peas (including the pods), sunflower seeds (including the shells), and rice. Almonds are a fruit, but we only eat the seeds; they are drupes, the same category as plums and peaches. If you crack open a peach pit, you’ll find one or two seeds that look a lot like the part of the almond we eat.
You carefully left out this line from your quote:
I never claimed that canned fruits were not nutritious, just that the heating process is more damaging than flash freezing or eating it fresh and ripe in most cases. There may be a few exceptions. If you want canned fruits, have them.
Um, yes but the poster to whom I was responding was basing “nutritious” on that which had the fewest calories. I know it’s a tired phrase but sometimes read for comprehension is actually apt. 
No, I didn’t leave it out; read my previous post again about “fresh” produce often being picked unripe, as opposed to canned, thus in the end they are about the same (frozen can be even better than either since freezing doesn’t destroy many nutrients). Maybe you eat stuff from your garden, thus get more nutrients than anything you can buy, but many people buy fresh produce at the grocery store where it has been sitting for who knows how long (including all of the shipping).
Here is yet another study that says that canned fruits and vegetables are often better in terms of cost and nutrients; that is to say, not just cheaper in terms of cost, including preparation and waste (peeling, etc) but in terms of how many nutrients you get from them.
don’t forget the humble Guava. if you can’t find fresh, try to source some Guava Nectar (Goya is one brand that is distributed widely). Next time you make shrimp on the barbie or even ribs- experiment with a Guava-Chili Glaze!
Or, make a raw corn/papaya salsa with Guava Nectar…
Or even a Guava Martini (carambola as a garnish?)
Some researchers say that guava is the most nutritious fruit. Guavas are high in fiber, vitamins A and C, vitamin B3 and G4 and polyunsaturated fatty acids especially the seeds. It has four times the amount of vitamin C then an orange, has good levels of the dietary minerals, potassium, magnesium, and an otherwise broad, low-calorie structure of essential nutrients. Guavas hold both major classes of antioxidant pigments - carotenoids and polyphenols. Guavas that are red, yellow or orange in color have more promising value as antioxidant sources than unpigmented variants. One on the best fruit to eat with no doubt.
most nutritious fruits
Minerals contained :
Potassium - 688 mg
Phosphorus - 66 mg
Magnesium - 36 mg
Calcium - 30 mg
Sodium - 3 mg
Iron - 0.43 mg
Selenium 1 mcg
Manganese - 0.247 mg
Copper - 0.38 mg
Zinc - 0.38 mg
Vitamins contained :
Vitamin A - 1030 IU
Vitamin B1 (thiamine) - 0.111 mg
Vitamin B2 (riboflavin) - 0.066 mg
Niacin - 1.789 mg
Folate - 81 mcg
Pantothenic Acid - 0.744 mg
Vitamin B6 - 0.181 mg
Vitamin C - 376.7 mg
Vitamin E - 1.2 mg
Vitamin K - 4.3 mcg
I’m guessing watermelon is probably the least nutritious. Avocado and banana is probably the best…just a WAG.
No, I don’t think he was. Read it again:
“For the calories you take in (less being better)…”
In other words, based on the amount of goodness per calorie, chargerrich claims that apples and bananas are best.
It is, however, an excellent source of lycopene, and per unit of weight contains more than tomatoes which are usually touted as an excellent source.
As I also pointed out in the lettuce thread, a fruit that is “mostly water” still serves a useful purpose as the body need water and watermelon - with its nutrients and it’s fiber - is better for you on a hot day or while exercising than some of the crap that’s sold in plastic bottles and/or aluminum cans.
I guess the take-away here is that even a “least nutritious” fruit is still healthy and contains benefits for the consumer.
I confess to being a bit biased, as watermelon is one of my all-time favorites. I often consume a pound of it with my lunch at work in lieu of the potato chips, french fries, candy bars, and cookies my co-workers consume in abundance. Maybe I just get tired of busy-bodies telling me I’m “wasting” my money on a “useless” fruit as they chomp down on something full of empty calories in the form of sugar, fat, and salt.
One important thing, we are talking whole fruit here, not pre-packaged juices.
Apple Juice is just about pure sugar water, with little or none of the great fiber found in a apple. Processing and storage also sometimes destroys vitamins and can lose micronutrients.
Yes, canned fruit can be as good as fresh fruit, but generally fruit juice is not.
Now yes, if you use a juicer, then it is all the pretty much the same.
Ok, I was wrong.
Watermelon is Quite Good for you. Lycopene, vitamins, minerals, phyto-nutrients, fiber, etc… And it Hydrates. When i was in Tropical Vietnam on vacation, we drank a good deal of pureed watermelon ‘juice’… it was luscious and wonderful in the heat.
i’m biased toward the ones WITH seeds, which are getting difficult to find in Supermarkets, but still available at farmstands. Many Heirloom varieties exist, too- DELICIOUS! Tho, the seedless Yellow & traditional pink are easiest to use in recipes and on fruit platters…
A nifty trick: Cut into cubes and freeze, then use like ice cubes in a summer beverage… It also makes a tasty and easy Granita, mixed with a little Chambord. Or watermelon Mint Sorbet as an Intermezzo…
Some history:
Watermelon is thought to have originated in the Kalahari Desert of Africa. The first recorded watermelon harvest occurred nearly 5,000 years ago in Egypt and is depicted in Egyptian hieroglyphics on walls of their ancient buildings. Watermelons were often placed in the burial tombs of kings to nourish them in the afterlife.
From there, watermelons spread throughout countries along the Mediterranean Sea by way of merchant ships. By the 10th century, watermelon found its way to China, which is now the world’s number one producer of watermelons.
The 13th century found watermelon spread through the rest of Europe via the Moors.
Southern food historian, John Egerton, believes watermelon made its way to the United States with African slaves as he states in his book, “Southern Food.”
The United States currently ranks fourth in worldwide production of watermelon. Forty-four states grow watermelons with Florida, Texas, California, Georgia and Arizona consistently leading the country in production.
Depends on how you define nutritious. Do you mean macronutrients or micronutrients? Also does the quality of those things count? Also what counts as food (do processed foods or food powders count) A stick of butter is probably the most macronutrient dense food available but it isn’t very high quality calories and it isn’t really a food as much as a food ingredient.
Spirulina is supposedly one of the most nutritious foods out there for both macro and micronutrients.
Yeah, but the problem with spirulina is that most people can’t stand the taste of it.
Based on smell alone, I’d describe Spirulina powder as “a health supplement for people who don’t realize they hate themselves”. Which is too bad. Cyanobacteria grow much more quickly than land plants; they’re about an order of magnitude more productive, in terms of land use.
I take tablets. Granted they come in 500mg tablets, but it is easier to get down. A lot of the healthy supplement stuff tastes like shit sadly.
I also didn’t notice the OP was asking about fruit. Butter isn’t a fruit, but it should be.