Classifying Fruits, Vegetables and Grains

Our efforts at classifications are going to be generally accurate and precise from our point of view and wholly inaccurate by a lot of other measures. First, lets consider, that the government has often classified fruits as vegetables, Next, consider modern marketing practices... enough said. Lets consider where you shop for fruits, vegetables and grains. Is their someone available, with the knowledge, to help you with your selections? And conventional and hybrid breeding is producing new types of products, and an ever increasing number of varieties of products.

A large part of cooking is getting a handle on what this means for the modern consumer and finding out what suits your needs.

We are going to attempt to provide broad classifications for what's available to you. Please bear in mind, that its entirely conceivable to grow a two inch purple watermelon (normally over 2 feet long when ripe with a green skin) and a white grape tomato (normally red and less than one inch in length) the size of a basketball. This makes grouping and classifying them even more problematic. We are letting the following guide our classification criteria.

•	These are meant to be general guidelines. We are trying to cross reference many commonly used (and miss-used), Generic, Brand, Slang, Multi-Language terms that are used quite frequently used to describe at one time, one single item and whole families of varieties.
•	This book is targeted at the modern suburban and urban dweller learning how to cook. Most of our groupings reflect what you can purchase at your local markets.
•	Our high level views are meant to help you distinguish between various brands, growers, varieties and sub varieties of ingredients so that you can select fresh produce which suits your needs.
•	Commercially grown, widely available varieties are being given the most attention.
•	Scientific categories are given very little attention.
•	The nutritional aspect of foods is almost completely absent. Instead, we endorse the American Heart Association's healthy eating recommendations: Healthy Eating
•	Common use and taste descriptions will predominate.

Elementary plant morphology

What we call fruits, vegetables and grains come from plants. Their are thousands upon thousands of plants. Their are enumerable exceptions to this scheme; however, in general, a plant has two organ systems:

The shoot system is above ground and may include:

Leaves
Buds
Stems
Flowers
Fruits
Fruits
Seeds

The root system is below ground and may include:

Roots
Tubers
Rhizomes

Vegetables can be grouped according to the edible part of each plant:
Part	Examples	Notes
Leaves	Lettuce
Stem	Celery	Stalks
Roots	Carrot
Tubers	Potato
Bud	Onion	Bulbs
Flowers	Broccoli
Seeds	Peas

A large majority of the exceptions to this scheme and part of the confusing terminology used have to do with the fruits and seeds. Fruits and seeds as terms are commonly used interchangeably and are also referred as pods, peas, legumes, nuts and beans. Fruits like the tomato and seeds like the pea are commonly called vegetables.

Its open to interpretation and your mileage will vary.

With apologies to nutritionists, scientists, growers and producers everywhere.

And finally, if its picked by hand from the garden when its ripe,
the taste is almost always going to be far superior to anything you can buy