These Everyday Foods Aren't What You Think They Are

You think you know, but you have no idea.

Everyone probably knows that a tomato is really a fruit, but does everybody know how many other foods that we call vegetables are actually fruits? Did you know, for example, that a bell pepper is a fruit?

There are a number of seriously surprising foods that you probably think you think you know a lot about but in reality don't fully understand. The terms we commonly use to classify our food -- namely our fruits, vegetables, berries, grains and nuts -- may be leading you astray.

Of course there's a whole genre of processed foods that have misleading names (ahem, bacon bits, which are made of soy protein, not bacon), but that's a rabbit hole we'd rather not go down today. For the purposes of this post, we're focusing on produce and grains. There are plenty of natural foods that throw us for a loop.

Here are 14 foods that aren't what you think:

1
A watermelon is a BERRY.
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A berry is "a fleshy fruit that has multiple seeds on the inside, embedded in the flesh of the ovary." So technically speaking, a watermelon is a berry!
2
An eggplant is also a berry.
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You read that right. An eggplant is also a berry.
3
So is a chili pepper.
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Chili peppers = berries = mind blown.
4
Bananas are berries too.
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Whoa.
5
Strawberries, on the other hand, are NOT berries.
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Stay with us here... A strawberry does not fall under the definition of a berry because it is not produced by a single ovary. It is an "enlarged stem end, or receptacle, in which are partially embedded the many true fruits... popularly called seeds."
6
Neither are blackberries.
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Blackberries are not berries. Blackberries are not berries. We keep saying it, but we keep not believing it.
7
And raspberries aren't berries either.
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What is the world coming to?
8
An avocado is a fruit.
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Ok, we can deal with this one at least. A fruit is "the structure that bears the seeds of a plant." The CRC Dictionary of Agricultural Sciences defines it as "the ripened ovary of a flower together with any accessory parts associated with it."
9
Bell Peppers are also fruits.
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Not really into this.
10
Squash is also a fruit.
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When does this insanity end?
11
So are cucumbers.
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Which mean pickles are...
12
Corn is a grain.
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Sorry, grain-haters.
13
Quinoa is a seed.
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Grain-haters, meet quinoa. It's not the "super-grain" you thought it was. It's a super seed.
14
Peanuts are not nuts.
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They are legumes. And you can all go home now.

And to take it one step further, ALL of these things could be considered vegetables. A vegetable is a culinary term -- it is not a scientific term and is somewhat subject.

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