Fruit Vegetables

Appears in
Cuisine Foundations
Cuisine Foundations

By Le Cordon Bleu

Published 2010

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The main component of a flower’s reproductive structure is the ovary. When fertilization occurs, the flower opens, exposing a ripened and matured ovary: A fruit is a ripened ovary that contains seeds, unless it has been cultivated specifically without them.

Some fruits have become widely known as vegetables. This is mainly due to the assumption that vegetables are used for savory preparations, while fruits are used for sweet preparations. This was officially acknowledged in 1893 by the U.S. Supreme Court, which officially identified the tomato as a vegetable based on its use (see the sidebar).