…
and now that I’ve got your attention…
Actually, we were trying to figure out if cucumbers are fruits, or vegetables, or maybe (though I’ve bet against it) a melon.
Any idea?
according to This It’s a Vegitable
Let’;s confuse the issue even more. According to this article the cucumber is technically a fruit, but commonly grouped with vegetables.
[quote]
Ok, summer produce stumper time. Is a cucumber a fruit or a vegetable? Gotcha, the answer is both. TECHNICALLY, the cucumber is a fruit (a fruit is the mature ovary of a plant, i.e., apple, melon, or tomato).[/quote
Cucumbers bear seeds, therefore they are fruits. No matter what dictionary.com says. If I recall my freshman level botany correctly, they’re closely related to berries, or may technically be berries.
Consumed as a vegetable.
Seeds inside it make it a fruit.
In the melon family.
Ha.
Botanically, a fruit. Nutritionally, a vegetable. Quite common occurrance, actually: The tomato is the same way.
No paradox here.
According to the US supreme court, tomatoes are legally vegetables. I’d expect the same for cucumbers.
Damn.
So far, I’m nothing but more confused.
Off to do more research, until one of our resident botanists can come to the rescue.
What’s there to be confused about? Depending on context it’s sometimes categorized as a fruit, and sometimes as a vegetable. “It can be either one” doesn’t mean “we don’t know.”
what does the US supreme court have anything to do with this?
I mean, could they declare the apple a vegetable if they want to? What expertise do they have to decide what is what? Aren’t there ‘natural laws’ that puts everything in its species or grouping or whatever?
What about peanuts? They’re seed bearing, but they aren’t the ovary of the plant, are they?
Peanuts are legumes.
The Supreme Court would only have relevance in this case if the classification of a plant was an issue before the law, as in a tax dispute.
There are different taxes and tariffs for fruits and vegetables. It makes sense to categorize them based how they are used (e.g. main course vs. dessert) rather than the botanical definition.
Why do people have such difficulties with dualities anyway? Electrons, pianos, tomatoes, platypuses… “It’s both” is a perfectly good answer and does not indicate lack of knowledge.
Cucumbers make great pickles.
As far as cucumber burps go this is what I do to cucumbers:
Peel 2-3 good size cukes of their tough green skin. Slice thin, seeds and all, circle-wise. Sprinkle layers with salt. Water comes out, drain into soup stock or dog dish.
The cucumbers will get all wimpy when the water drains out. When you can’t stand it anymore put them in a bowl and toss with any kind of vinegar. Great by themselves or added to a cream cheese sandwich.
Cucumbers Supreme!
Ya…and I’m convinced that drinking pickle juice (a couple spoon fulls) clears a stuffy nose
Well, honestly this came about because I asked her if she knew the answer. My kids (5 and 7) were arguing about it in the back seat, and I honestly wasn’t sure.
Neither did anyone else at the grocery store… we asked many random strangers.
Thanks for the help… while it’s not very satisfactory, the answer “Both” will just have to do. Dang it.
It seems like a perfect opportunity to teach your kids how things are not always black and white in this world. That’s the main problem with public education if you ask me - they teach kids to think that there’s always a right answer and a wrong answer, and don’t go into more complex issues.
(Sorry, I’ll stop now.)
And to further confuse the matter: both cucumbers and tomatoes are berries.
We have had this discussion over tomatoes a hundred times and it is just silly. “Fruit” is a word with different meanings depending on the context and it is unfortunate that the English language uses the same word for both. In Spanish you have “fruto” and “fruta” which are quite distinct and correspond quite directly with the English meanings. To a botanist a cucumber is a fruit (fruto) which is a very generic term but to a cook or a grocery shopper the word “fruit” is the equivalent of the Spanish “fruta” which is restricted to certain fruits like the apple and orange which are sweet. Tomatoes and cucumbers are vegetables and “hortalizas” in Spanish.
I can’t believe we keep going over this over and over.
I suspect you’re not going to get an answer that satisfies you if you already think there’s a difference between a fruit and a melon. A melon is a fruit. Do you have a clear definition in mind about what you think a “vegetable” is and how that’s different from a “fruit”?
The words fruit and vegetable are used to mean different things to different people. A botanist uses “fruit” to mean the developed reproductive part of a plant. A botanist doesn’t talk about a “vegetable” at all.
A person ordering food in a store or restaurant uses “fruit” to mean a part of a plant that’s sweet tasting or eaten as dessert; they don’t care whether it contains seeds or whatever. Such a person also uses “vegetable” to refer to *any[/] part of a plant that’s savoury tasting.
So things like cucumbers and tomatoes are the reproductive, seed-bearing parts of the plants they come from (that means they’re fruits botanically), but they don’t taste sweet so they aren’t typically eaten as dessert and are thought of as vegetables.