Cucumber is usually considered a vegetable because of how it’s used in the culinary world. However, as it grows from flowers and contains seeds, it’s botanically a fruit.
What food group is cucumber in?
vegetables
The Culinary Classification: Cucumbers are vegetables.
A ‘fruit’, however, has a soft texture, tends to be either sweet or tart and is often enjoyed raw or in desserts or jams. Cucumbers can be crunchy, refreshing and enjoyed raw.
What is a cucumber technically?
Cucumbers are in the same family as melons and squash, and are technically a fruit. Cucumbers are 90% water, are crisp and have a refreshing flavor.
What category of fruit is a cucumber?
In botanical terms, the cucumber is classified as a pepo, a type of botanical berry with a hard outer rind and no internal divisions. However, much like tomatoes and squashes, it is often perceived, prepared, and eaten as a vegetable.
What family of vegetables is cucumber in?
Cucurbitaceae
Several of the most popular vegetables grown in the home garden belong to the cucumber family (Cucurbitaceae). Commonly grouped together and called the cucurbits, they include summer squash, zucchini, winter squash, mirliton, pumpkin, gourd, cucuzza, watermelon, cantaloupe, cushaw, luffa and, of course, cucumber.
Is a cucumber considered a vegetable?
So, are cucumbers a fruit or a vegetable? The answer is: both! Although they are botanically classified as a fruit, cucumbers are overwhelmingly prepared in savory ways like in salads or as pickles, so it’s fair to say that they are vegetables in the culinary world.
What food group are vegetables?
The vegetable food group includes dark green vegetables, red and orange vegetables, starchy vegetables, and legumes (beans and peas). Dark green vegetables include broccoli, collard greens, spinach, and kale. Red and orange vegetables include acorn squash, carrots, pumpkin, tomato, and sweet potato.
What fruit is technically a vegetable?
This category includes items many consider to be vegetables, including squash, tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers, eggplant and avocados. Yes, pumpkins are a fruit! Peas and beans are a bit trickier, because if you just eat what’s inside the pod, you’re eating the seed.
Is cucumber a vegetable or salad?
Why is cucumber a vegetable from a culinary standpoint? Since cucumbers taste savory and are used in savory preparations such as pickles and salads (but not of the fruit variety), they are considered a vegetable by culinarians the world over and have been for centuries.
What classifies a fruit from a vegetable?
Botanically, fruits and vegetables are classified depending on which part of the plant they come from. A fruit develops from the flower of a plant, while the other parts of the plant are categorized as vegetables. Fruits contain seeds, while vegetables can consist of roots, stems and leaves.
Is a cucumber technically a berry?
The elongated tough-skinned fruits of the family Cucurbitaceae, including watermelons, cucumbers, and gourds, are a type of berry referred to as pepos. Any small fleshy fruit is popularly called a berry, especially if it is edible.
Is a cucumber a melon?
The Melon Family, Cucurbitaceae, is a plant family commonly known as melons, gourds or cucurbits and includes crops like cucumbers, squashes (including pumpkins), luffas, melons (including watermelons).
Is a cucumber a squash?
Cucumber is not a squash, but is closely related to the squash family. Cucumber is a member of the Cucurbitaceae family, and the Cucumis genus, while squash is in the same family but the Cucurbita genus. The two genuses are closely related, which is why cucumbers may have such a confusing status in the culinary world.
What are the 7 families of vegetables?
Grouping Vegetables According to Plant Families
- The Umbelliferae family.
- The Lamiaceae family.
- The Solanaceae family.
- The Asteraceae family.
- The Brassicaceae family.
- The Liliaceae family.
- The Rosaceae family.
- The Cucurbitaceae family.
Is a cucumber a pumpkin?
Although the little round object looks like the start of a pumpkin, it’s a misshapen cucumber. Although pumpkins and cucumbers are both in the vining cucurbit plant family, they’re different species that are biologically unable to cross.
Is a cucumber a pickle?
Pickles are Cucumbers
Cucumbers grow on vines or on a cucumber bush. They like hot temperatures and a lot of water! Kirby or Persian cucumbers are often used for pickling. After they are picked they are washed and then soaked in a pickling solution often made with water, salt, spices and vinegar.
Is a seedless cucumber a fruit?
Are you surprised by that answer? Cucumbers fit the botanical definition of a fruit because they develop out of flowers and usually contain seeds. Even when they are bred to be seedless, they fit the botanical definition of fruit.
Why is strawberry not a fruit?
Surprisingly, eggplants, tomatoes and avocados are botanically classified as berries. And the popular strawberry is not a berry at all. Botanists call the strawberry a “false fruit,” a pseudocarp. A strawberry is actually a multiple fruit which consists of many tiny individual fruits embedded in a fleshy receptacle.
Why is tomato a fruit and not cucumber?
To a botanist, a fruit is an entity that develops from the fertilized ovary of a flower. This means that tomatoes, squash, pumpkins, cucumbers, peppers, eggplants, corn kernels, and bean and pea pods are all fruits; so are apples, pears, peaches, apricots, melons and mangos.
What are the 5 groups of vegetables?
Based on their nutrient content, vegetables are organized into 5 subgroups: dark green; red and orange; beans, peas, and lentils; starchy; and other vegetables.
What are the 5 food groups?
As the MyPlate icon shows, the five food groups are Fruits, Vegetables, Grains, Protein Foods, and Dairy. The 2015-2020 Dietary Guidelines for Americans emphasizes the importance of an overall healthy eating pattern with all five groups as key building blocks, plus oils.