Botanically, a fruit is the ripened
ovary of a flowering
plant. When discussing
food, the term usually refers to fruits that are sweet and fleshy. Some culinary fruits are not fruits in the botanical sense (e.g., rhubarb
?; only the stems are edible). Gourd
?s,
tomatos, and pepper
?s are fruits in the botanical sense, but are treated as vegetable
?s in
cooking. Some
spices, such as [Juniper berries]
?, are botanically fruits.
Some edible fruits:
- Apple
- Banana?
- Berry?
- Aronia?
- [Bramble fruit]?
- Blackberry?
- Boysenberry?
- Loganberry?
- Raspberry?
- Salmonberry?
- Blueberry?
- Cranberry
- Currant?
- Elderberry?
- Gooseberry?
- Goumi?
- Honeysuckle?
- Huckleberry
- Mulberry?
- [Sea buckthorn]?
- Strawberry?
- Carambola?
- Cherimoya?
- Cherry?
- Citrus?
- Date?
- Fig?
- Grape
- Guava?
- Kiwi
- Mango?
- Melon?
- Cantaloupe?
- Honeydew?
- Watermelon?
- Pineapple?
- Papaya?
- Pawpaw
- Pear
- Persimmon?
- Pomegranate?
- Quince?
- [Star fruit]?
- [Stone fruit]?
- Tamarind?
I'd love to see a better classification of these fruits--regional, botanical, or both. These are just my North American culinary classifications.
Most of the above are included in a classification of flowering plants, starting at Magnoliophyta. I know it's incomplete and has been growing only slowly, but I'm nowhere close to an expert. Anyway, pages on the above could link back to families like Rosaceae, once those exist.