# Produce (fruits & veggies) question **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 29, 2021, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/produce-fruits-veggies-question/956863 "2021-12-29T17:21:02Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![DPRK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4491bb/32.png) [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2021, 1:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/produce-fruits-veggies-question/956863/21 "2021-12-30T01:16:37Z")
“Lust”, not “buttocks”. I assume this is like calling them “love-apples” in English (poma amoris fructu rubro) ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2021, 3:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/produce-fruits-veggies-question/956863/22 "2021-12-30T03:13:21Z")
The claim that the cherry tomato was invented in Israel dates back to a p.r. campaign starting about 2003, and a subsequent N.Y. Times article. While Israeli plant breeders made important advances in hybridization, the truth is that cherry tomatoes were around (and popular) long before they worked with them. There is a lengthy article in _Gastronomica_ about the controversy (which has developed political overtones), and you can search for and download the PDF. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2021, 3:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/produce-fruits-veggies-question/956863/23 "2021-12-30T03:33:18Z")
I can but wild blueberries every year in the supermarket. They look and taste a lot like… Wild blueberries. Domestic strawberries about about 8 times larger than wild ones, but domestic raspberries look a lot like wild ones. I don’t think the cranberry has been selectively bred to speak of, just managed. I bet that watercress and scallions are similar to their ancestors. Probably chives, too. Onions were probably bred for large bulbs, and garlic for big heads. Those are some of my guesses. ---
**Author:** ![Dandan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a87d85/32.png) [@Dandan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dandan)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2021, 11:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/produce-fruits-veggies-question/956863/24 "2021-12-30T11:56:09Z")
> [@Jackmannii](#): > > There is a lengthy article in _Gastronomica_ about the controversy (which has developed political overtones), and you can search for and download the PDF. . Thanks, I’ll look. Dan ---
**Author:** ![Ulfreida](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ulfreida/32/8014_2.png) [@Ulfreida](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ulfreida)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2021, 1:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/produce-fruits-veggies-question/956863/25 "2021-12-30T13:16:25Z")
If you are in the Americas, that is escaped-from-cultivation asparagus, not wild. It is native to Asia Minor I believe. ---
**Author:** ![Riemann](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/riemann/32/3133_2.png) [@Riemann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Riemann)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2021, 1:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/produce-fruits-veggies-question/956863/26 "2021-12-30T13:33:12Z")
> [@D18](#): > > Since this is the Dope, I shall nitpick, and point out that a mushroom is neither a fruit nor a vegetable! I don’t agree that this nitpick is correct, not even in the tedious “a tomato is a fruit” sense. A _fruit_ is a technical scientific term as well an everyday non-technical word, so it’s at least valid to say that there is a technical sense in which (to a botanist) a tomato is a fruit. Similarly, of course it’s true that mushrooms are fungi rather than plants. But unlike _plant_ or _fruit_ the word _vegetable_ is not a technical scientific term. It doesn’t have any meaning other than the everyday one, a category of stuff that people eat. So there’s no technical basis to dispute everyday usage, there’s no reason to exclude edible fungi from the category of food we call _vegetables_. ---
**Author:** ![solost](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/solost/32/11776_2.png) [@solost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/solost)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2021, 2:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/produce-fruits-veggies-question/956863/27 "2021-12-30T14:18:57Z")
> [@Ulfreida](#): > > If you are in the Americas, that is escaped-from-cultivation asparagus, not wild. It is native to Asia Minor I believe. Interesting. Still, despite its point of origin, I did some googling and found nothing to suggest that the cultivated version of asparagus is much different than its wild cousin. Other than white asparagus, which is deprived of sunlight so photosynthesis is prevented. ---
**Author:** ![Hari\_Seldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hari_seldon/32/5173_2.png) [@Hari\_Seldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hari_Seldon)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2021, 2:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/produce-fruits-veggies-question/956863/28 "2021-12-30T14:23:51Z")
It seems to me that most berries are pretty similar to their wild progenitors. Whenever I am in Seattle in August I pick loads of wild blackberries which are indistinguishable from the supermarket varieties. And wild blueberries, which grow in profusion in Quebec, are similar to the cultivated. We occasionally see tomatillos in the market and I wonder if they are the wild progenitor of tomatoes. They are small, red and partly wrapped in a petal (or maybe a sepal). ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2021, 2:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/produce-fruits-veggies-question/956863/29 "2021-12-30T14:38:13Z")
They’re both members of the nightshade family, but tomatillos are _Physalis philadelphica_ and tomatoes are _Solanum lycopersicum_. To continue this exercise into pedantry, I found a reference stating the tomato is thought to be derived from the progenitor species _S. pimpinellifolium_ and _S. cerasiforme_. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2021, 2:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/produce-fruits-veggies-question/956863/30 "2021-12-30T14:45:01Z")
For that matter, the mushroom is the fruiting body of the fungus. I suppose it’s not the ovary that produces seeds, but… close enough. Both in culinary and botanical terms, I think it’s fine to include mushrooms among “fruits and veggies”. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2021, 2:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/produce-fruits-veggies-question/956863/31 "2021-12-30T14:46:47Z")
> [@Hari\_Seldon](#): > > And wild blueberries, which grow in profusion in Quebec, are similar to the cultivated. Similar to what I used to buy. Identical to the tubs of “wild blueberries” I buy in season. But not that similar to the dime-sized crisp berries I often find for sale around now. Although the flavor is similar. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Treppenwitz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treppenwitz/32/3445_2.png) [@Treppenwitz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Treppenwitz)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2021, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/produce-fruits-veggies-question/956863/32 "2021-12-30T15:55:35Z")
> [@Hari\_Seldon](#): > > …Whenever I am in Seattle in August I pick loads of wild blackberries which are indistinguishable from the supermarket varieties… Really? I can only assume that in the US you have much better supermarket varieties. Here in the UK commercial blackberries are one of the most disappointing “versions” of the wild fruit, lacking in… pretty much everything, really. No sharpness, little flavour, bland… in a blind tasting I don’t think I would be able to identify them. There’s not enough to go on. j ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2021, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/produce-fruits-veggies-question/956863/33 "2021-12-30T18:52:26Z")
I don’t know if I’d be able to distinguish supermarket blackberries from the wild ones in my yard by flavor alone. The store-bought ones tend to be considerably larger; the named variety I grow has fruit about twice the size of the wild type. ---
**Author:** ![Treppenwitz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treppenwitz/32/3445_2.png) [@Treppenwitz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Treppenwitz)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2021, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/produce-fruits-veggies-question/956863/34 "2021-12-30T20:02:33Z")
It’s surprising to me to hear that. I don’t doubt you for a second, but my experience is very different. I would have said that blackberries are one of the worst examples of store fruits being produced for size, appearance and little else. I have to conclude that US producers do a much better job on flavor than UK ones. (Or that you have really rubbish wild fruit - but that doesn’t sound likely. 😉) j ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2021, 12:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/produce-fruits-veggies-question/956863/35 "2021-12-31T00:09:15Z")
Maybe blackberries grown in Mexico and Guatemala lose more of their flavor on the long trip to the U.K. as compared to the shorter distance to the U.S. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![am77494](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d2c977/32.png) [@am77494](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/am77494)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2021, 12:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/produce-fruits-veggies-question/956863/36 "2021-12-31T00:51:40Z")
> [@Hari\_Seldon](#): > > Whenever I am in Seattle in August I pick loads of wild blackberries which are indistinguishable from the supermarket varieties. There is a very strange twisted story behind those ubiquitous blackberries in Seattle. It involves an eccentric California man who believes in Eugenics, the Himalayas and a guy from India. Anyways - this this eccentric guy is also responsible for the Russet potato, freestone peach and elephant garlic. > **[The Strange, Twisted Story Behind Seattle's Blackberries](https://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2016/08/29/491797791/the-strange-twisted-story-behind-seattles-blackberries)** > > Those tangled brambles are everywhere in the city, the legacy of an eccentric named Luther Burbank whose breeding experiments with crops can still be found on many American dinner plates. ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2021, 3:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/produce-fruits-veggies-question/956863/37 "2021-12-31T03:50:45Z")
> [@puzzlegal](#): > > Both in culinary and botanical terms, I think it’s fine to include mushrooms among “fruits and veggies”. I’ve always wondered who was the first to consider that mushrooms, truffles, and other funguses were edible at all. Somebody must have been awful desperately hungry. Same with snails and other mollusks. (Note: I’m not knocking mushrooms. I like them. But I would never have been the first to think of eating them.) ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2021, 4:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/produce-fruits-veggies-question/956863/38 "2021-12-31T04:30:34Z")
i see squirrels and rabbits eating them all the time. I suspect we’ve always eaten them, since before we were people. ---
**Author:** ![Askance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/askance/32/8281_2.png) [@Askance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Askance)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2021, 4:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/produce-fruits-veggies-question/956863/39 "2021-12-31T04:52:40Z")
I remember reading years ago that rocket was found growing on the slopes of Vesuvius, within the last few decades, by a guy who read about it in Roman texts and determined to find it. So it was re-introduced into western food quite recently, in presumably its now-wild form. How true that story - and my memory. - is I am not sure! ---
**Author:** ![SmartAleq](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smartaleq/32/163_2.png) [@SmartAleq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SmartAleq)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2021, 5:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/produce-fruits-veggies-question/956863/40 "2021-12-31T05:25:29Z")
Turnips, mustard greens and kale are strong contenders, being some of the earliest forms of the Brassica family. Which went nuts and we ended up with broccoli and cauliflower and canola oil and Brussels sprouts and kohlrabi and bok choy and cabbage and and and… Brassicas kinda feed the world. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/produce-fruits-veggies-question/956863.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/produce-fruits-veggies-question/956863.md?page=3)