I was doing some writing and I looked up whether there were any fruits that grow underground for reasons. Weirdly enough, the one result that came up was... peanuts? Apparently peanuts are the only "fruit" that grow underground. That made me curious. So I googled "are peanuts fruits". The first result that came up said "Peanuts are considered neither a fruit nor a vegetable. They are considered a nut and are part of the protein group in the food pyramid." So at this point I was confused. It made sense, but I was getting conflicting information. I looked at the next search result. "The botanical definition of a 'nut' is a fruit whose ovary wall becomes hard at maturity. Using this criterion, the peanut is not a typical nut. However, for culinary purposes and in common English language usage, peanuts are usually referred to as nuts." Sooooo... not a nut, but a fruit... that's referred to as a nut? Or... nuts are fruits? Next search result, "They are not considered a fruit as in 'food group'. But botanically speaking the peanut plant does bear fruits and we call these pods. These contain seeds which although called peanuts are not nuts but beans." BEANS!? Peanuts are BEANS!? ...let's do one more search result. "While 'nut' is in their name, peanuts are in fact legumes. Peanuts actually grow underground, as opposed to nuts like walnuts, almonds, etc. that grow on trees." .....THE HECK IS A LEGUME? New search, "what is a legume?" leg·ume /ˈleɡˌyo͞om,ləˈɡyo͞om/ noun a leguminous plant (member of the pea family), especially one grown as a crop. a seed, pod, or other edible part of a leguminous plant used as food. BOTANY the long seedpod of a leguminous plant. le·gu·mi·nous /ləˈɡyo͞omənəs/ adjective BOTANY relating to or denoting plants of the pea family ( Leguminosae ). They have seeds in pods, distinctive flowers, and typically root nodules containing symbiotic bacteria able to fix nitrogen. ...I guess the word of the day is "legume". Did I need to write a thread about this? Probably not.
When I learned peanuts weren't nuts but beans, I thought it couldn't be true. Then learning they were legumes just made me hit my head on a desk. I was sent to the office for causing a scene, but it was needed. All I need to know is that fruits have seed, vegetables don't, and that peanuts are the most confusing food to put into a family. So, yeah. That sounds fun to study.
There's tomatoes as well... More crazy things about plants we eat: 1) Cocoa beans are not beans, they're seeds. 2) Coconuts are not nuts, they're severely disproportionate drupes. 3) Bananas are berries. 4) And so are watermelons. 5) Lemons are not a naturally occurring fruit: they're a human-bred hybrid between oranges and citrons. When life doesn't give you lemons, you genetically engineer them yourself using millennia-old technology and trick humanity into thinking they've been here all along.
Pumpkins. By botanical definitions, they're fruits, but in terms of culinary use (mainly due to their flavor), they're often referred to as veggies. It's kinda like tomatoes in that sense.
I mean I know all of this except... what is a drupe? Oh, it's this: drupe /dro͞op/ noun BOTANY plural noun: drupes a fleshy fruit with thin skin and a central stone containing the seed, e.g., a plum, cherry, almond, or olive. Are there just a ton of different subtypes of fruits that I don't know about? Apparently... Avocados are drupes.
I consider nuts neither plants nor food and just part of the protein area. Beans are in the same area. They're just... their own thing, I guess?
