A Berry Confusing Quiz!

Answer:

The word berry comes from an Old English word "berie" meaning 'grape' and originally referred to most small, fleshy, edible fruits, including grapes. Nowadays berry has a specific botanical meaning but also has an inexact usage in casual speech.

Botanically speaking, fruit is a term which refers to that part of a plant which contains the seeds. A fruit that is classified as a berry is a single fruit that grows from a single flower with one ovary. This strict definition means that some fruits that are called berries are not true berries. It also means that some berries are not necessarily thought of as fruits - many are considered as vegetables. The word vegetable is a non-botanical or culinary term and refers to any edible part of a plant (including fruits, and also roots, stems, leaves, bulbs, and flowers) and typically eaten as a savory food rather than as a sweet one.

Berries that really are berries include blueberries, cranberries and gooseberries. Other fruits that are classified as berries include bananas, grapes, kiwi fruit, pomegranates, watermelons and currants.

We generally tend to think of berries as sweet fruits but quite a number of vegetables fall into the category of true berries - for example, tomatoes, eggplants, cucumbers, pumpkins and zucchinis.

Some spices are berries or derived from berries, including allspice, chili, various peppercorns and juniper berries.

Despite their names, raspberries, boysenberries and blackberries are not true berries. Botanists classify them as "aggregate" fruits, which means they grow from a single flower containing many tiny, separate ovaries. The ovaries grow together into a cluster that looks like one big fruit.

Mulberries are "multiple" fruits that grow from a cluster of flowers, not a single flower as is the case with aggregate fruits. The ovaries from the cluster of flowers fuse to mature into a single combined structure.

Strawberries are not true berries but are classified as "accessory" fruits. The tiny seeds you see on the outside of strawberries are not seeds - they are actually tiny fruits called achenes. Achenes are defined as dry, one-seeded fruits that do not split open when they are ripe. The red, fleshy part of the strawberry is not a fruit as it is not derived from the ovary. It is swollen receptacle tissue - the part of the plant that connects the flower to the stem. Fun fact - did you know that a mere eight strawberries contain more Vitamin C than an orange and account for more than 100% of the recommended daily intake?