A veg question from Middle Reetlet

[reetnproper]

Ok, so there we were having sunday dinner with ALL the veg and the potatoes supplied by my veg patch when Middle Reetlet asked:

"Are beans a vegetable?"

Now we've been growing veg and particularly beans for 4 years now and we were pretty sure the Reetlets new their veg and where it came from and so to say OH and I were a little taken aback by this question, would be an understatement.

"Of course they're veg," I said.

"But they have their seeds in them," Middle Reetlet said "and I thought that meant it was a fruit?"
And she continued with:
"Tomatoes are fruit!"

And she's right isn't she because pumpkins, squashes, peppers and cucumbers are all regarded as fruit but in a vegetable kind of way and so OH and I weren't able to answer her question.

Are beans a vegetable or, based on the 'fruit have their seeds inside them' are they actually a fruit?

Answers on a postcard please.

Reet
x

[Jeanied]

Clearly a brainy Reetlet! I'm waiting for Zaz to answer this one

[Two_Sheds]

strawberries have their seeds on the outside

[Two_Sheds]

[a fruit is] the ripened ovary of a flowering plant that contains the seeds, sometimes fused with other parts of the plant.
Berries, nuts, grains, pods, and drupes* are fruits.
Fruits that consist of ripened ovaries alone, such as the tomato and pea pod, are called true fruits. Fruits that consist of ripened ovaries and other parts such as the receptacle or bracts, as in the apple, are called accessory fruits or false fruits.

To most of us, a fruit is a plant ... that is eaten as a dessert or snack because it is sweet, but to a botanist a fruit is a mature ovary of a plant, and as such it may or may not taste sweet.

To a botanist, apples, peaches, peppers, tomatoes, pea pods, cucumbers, and winged maple seeds are all fruits.
A vegetable is simply part of a plant that is grown primarily for food. Thus, the leaf of spinach, the root of a carrot, the flower of broccoli, and the stalk of celery are all vegetables.

so says fruit - definition of fruit by the Free Online Dictionary, Thesaurus and Encyclopedia. (interesting !)

so is this:
* drupe ~ A fleshy fruit with thin skin and a central stone containing the seed, e.g., a plum, cherry, almond, or olive

[horticultural_hobbit]

Well played, Two Sheds. That is an elegant solution to a prickly problem. All I was going to say was that the beans are the seeds.

[zazen999]

Botanically yes. In real life, no.

[Potstubsdustbins]

Don't know about botany, just know they don't taste very nice with thick cream.

Colin

[Glutton4...]

I 'ate kids!

[Jelliebabe]

ZAZ - You cant eat kids - that must be 'gainst the law or summat....

And anyway are THEY a fruit or a veg???

[reetnproper]

Thanks guys

Middle Reetlet was thrilled to have had 3 replies to her question by the time she went to bed and she was impressed with your 2nd one Two-Sheds, although she felt she still didn't really know the answer to her question.

Reet
x

[singleseeder]

Hmmm... I just love those 'mealtime questions' from children.

Whilst I know that tomatoes are fruits; and courgettes etc. I think of beans as being seeds in a seedpod. Lets take the argument to it's logical conclusion though. All veg plants need to produce seeds, so when a radish sets seed and is eaten as a seed pod is that a fruit too?

Should everything just be renamed as 'edibles' and we can choose which bit we eat? Flowers can be included in this too.

Note: I was a very irritating child at the meal table

[thepict]

So was I single seeder. Shows we have enquiring minds

[shona_b]

How about this definition of a legume? "the fruit or seed of any of various bean or pea plants consisting of a two-valved case that splits along both sides when ripe and having the seeds attached to one edge of the valves" I guess that's sayign the runner bean / french bean you were having for dinner is indeed the "fruit" of the plant

[HeyWayne]

A Bean is a son. Neither fruit nor vegetable.