Most of us love cucumber for its refreshing and crunchy taste. But we often go through confusion and sometimes debate on whether it’s a fruit or a vegetable. This is an age-old confusion and to make a conclusion about it we need to know the difference between fruits and vegetables. Although it hardly matters when you know the method of consumption and how to grow it, we will discuss some of the differences between fruits and vegetables.
Is cucumber a fruit or vegetable? The differences between vegetables and fruits
The very common and popular notion about fruits and vegetables is that they are different types of plants whereas they are complementary to each other. They have a very interesting bonding between them which you might not know. Primarily, we need to know that there is a specific part of a tree that’s called fruit. Not every tree or plant grows fruit but whichever does, the process is the same. The flower of the plant has to bloom and pollinate then ovaries start growing one or more seeds that turn into fruit eventually.
On the contrary, vegetables are not any specific part of a plant. Any part can be a vegetable like its root, stem, flower, fruit, leaf, or anything. The very common examples are carrots, potatoes, onions, beets, spinach, lettuce, and so on. These are the roots and leaves of the plants.
These two elements are also classified based on the region and the culture. If it is being eaten like a savory meal along with other proteins then it can be considered a vegetable. When it comes to culture and region, the aspect and spectrum of this concept enlarge at its best. This becomes a very diverse concept in this case. In the tropical areas, pineapple is consumed as a fruit whereas, in different other areas, they cook pineapple in their savory meals which makes it a vegetable that way. There is a very famous recipe for pork cooked with an apple in the southern US whereas most of the region consumes apples as a very common fruit.
Apart from these classifications, the way of growing them is also a factor. The berries grow from a single flower and so is a cucumber hence we can call it a berry. The berries are grown from a single ovum.
Is cucumber a fruit or vegetable? Why do we care?
We can call cucumber a vegetable when we cook it or include it in a savory meal along with other proteins. It is also often considered to be a vegetable because it is less sweet than any other usual fruit. They are often found in the grocery store, unlike other fruits and vegetables.
The gardeners should know that cucumbers are fruit and they grow from flowers that are not very appealing to pollinators. Sometimes the flowers remain unpollinated. So the gardeners can hand pollinate the cucumber flowers. It is very essential to know the timing of pollination before getting into the process as it may distract the fruits if harvested in small amounts.
Now, this is the part where we will try to find out the conclusion that my readers have been waiting for all this while. However, in my belief, this piece of information will make no difference in the use of cucumbers. You can still know it as a fun fact and apply the knowledge while gardening. As we were discussing previously, there is no concrete conclusion about this particular topic. It has the quality of fruit as well as a vegetable. It is also often considered to be a berry as it grows from a single ovum.
Summary
We have an age-old confusion about whether cucumber is a vegetable or a fruit. We discussed the topic in the above article. The very common and popular notion about fruits and vegetables is that they are different types of plants whereas they are complementary to each other. They have a very interesting bonding between them which you might not know. Primarily, we need to know that there is a specific part of a tree that’s called fruit. Not every tree or plant grows fruit but whichever does, the process is the same. These two elements are also classified based on the region and the culture. If it is being eaten like a savory meal along with other proteins then it can be considered a vegetable. When it comes to culture and region, the aspect and spectrum of this concept enlarge at its best. This becomes a very diverse concept in this case. We can call cucumber a vegetable when we cook it or include it in a savory meal along with other proteins. It is also often considered to be a vegetable because it is less sweet than any other usual fruit. They are often found in the grocery store, unlike other fruits and vegetables.
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