Food Facts #1: Fruits as Vegetables

[not2late]

Fruits that are used as vegetables:

Tomatoes
Tomatillos
Peppers/Chilis
Squash (winter and summer, pumpkin)
Cucumbers
Eggplant
Chayote/Mirliton
Edible gourds
Green beans
Peas
Avocado
Sweet Corn
Okra
Olives

[MotherOfGizmo]

Re: Food Facts #1: Fruits as Vegetables

Very interesting. And most of those are on the induction list, so next time someone complains about "no fruit on induction" we can list the fruits off for them!

[Isabeau]

Re: Food Facts #1: Fruits as Vegetables

I had no idea grean beans and peas were fruits! So...in that context..what constitutes a fruit??

[MotherOfGizmo]

Re: Food Facts #1: Fruits as Vegetables

I think anything that grows off of a plant that basically a fleshy seed pod.

[MotherOfGizmo]

Re: Food Facts #1: Fruits as Vegetables

Wikipedia gives this definition

In botany, a fruit is the ripened ovary, together with its seeds, of a flowering plant. In cuisine, when discussing fruit as food, the term usually refers to just those plant fruits that are sweet and fleshy, examples of which would include plum, apple and orange. However, a great many common vegetables, as well as nuts and grains, are the fruit of the plants they come from.

[not2late]

Re: Food Facts #1: Fruits as Vegetables

Yep, we eat the "vegetable-fruits" during Induction----unless you limit yourself to lettuce.

[MotherOfGizmo]

Re: Food Facts #1: Fruits as Vegetables

I was thinking about this last night. I wonder if the food pyramid ,when it suggests the number of fruit servings per day is counting real fruit or just what people have come to consider fruit to be?

[not2late]

Re: Food Facts #1: Fruits as Vegetables

I don't know MoG. But I think they count the sugary fruit as "fruit" and the non-sugary ones as vegetables. Although, after not eating added sugars for while on Atkins, I can taste the pleasant sweetness of red bell peppers and can eat red bell pepper strips for a sweet snack.

That reminds me...there's a regional speciality here in Maryland: green pepper fritters. It's served at some crab houses as a side dish for steammed crabs. Anyhow, it's green pepper rings dipped in a batter and deep fried. It's topped with a heavy sprinkling of powdered sugar. It sounds weird, but in my pre-Atkins days, I had it a couple of times and it wasn't bad at all---it was like any other fruit fritter.

[Isabeau]

Re: Food Facts #1: Fruits as Vegetables

Interesting. You guys are a wealth of knowledge.

[MotherOfGizmo]

Re: Food Facts #1: Fruits as Vegetables

I'm like you Megs as far as things tasting sweet to me that didn't used to pre Atkins days, and bell peppers are one of them! Those fritters sound interesting, kinda like fried dill pickles, sounds yucky but they are actually surprising yummy!