Anyone have any random nerdy facts?

[dr wogz]

and tomatoes a fruit.

A fruit develops from the flower of a plant, while the other parts of the plant are categorized as vegetables. Fruits contain seeds, while vegetables can consist of roots, stems and leaves.

https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/fruits-vs-vegetables

 

[Art Upton]

and tomatoes a fruit.

A fruit develops from the flower of a plant, while the other parts of the plant are categorized as vegetables. Fruits contain seeds, while vegetables can consist of roots, stems and leaves.

https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/fruits-vs-vegetables

IN the US , a "tax" was the reason for the debate on Tomatoes

 

[Azamiryou]

In Japanese, the words for "fruit" and "vegetable" actually categorize produce by whether the plants are perennials or annuals.

So if you want to buy watermelon, you have to go to the vegetable shop to get it. If you go to the fruit shop, they won't have any.

 

[jqavins]

and tomatoes a fruit.

A fruit develops from the flower of a plant, while the other parts of the plant are categorized as vegetables. Fruits contain seeds, while vegetables can consist of roots, stems and leaves.

https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/fruits-vs-vegetables

Oh, good god, this again? (Sorry Paul, don't take this personally.) To a botanist, any thing from a plant is vegetable matter, and fruit is the seed bearing part of the plant. To a chef, fruit is the sweet, juicy, yummy stuff (or closely related stuff like lemons.) This is far, far from the only example of words having different meanings in different contexts.

Furthermore, when you look up and down the "vegetable" aisle, you'll see many fruits. Peppers have seeds inside; they're fruit. The whole squash and gourd family, from cucumbers to pumpkins, are fruits. Peas are seeds, but pea pods, like snow peas and sugar snap peas, are fruits. Eggplants are fruits. The only thing interesting about tomatoes in this regard is that people still talk about tomatoes as if they're unusual.

 

[Antares JS]

Watermelons are actually berries (so are cucumbers, cantaloupes, squash and pumpkins). Whereas strawberries and raspberries are not.

What is the definition of a berry?

 

[Azamiryou]

Knowledge is knowing zucchini is a fruit. Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad.

 

[dhbarr]

Corn is a fruit when you grow it, a vegetable when you eat it, a grain when you dry it, and a blast when you pop it.

 

[dr wogz]

Corn is a fruit when you grow it, a vegetable when you eat it, a grain when you dry it, and a blast when you pop it.

and can also be used to gauge your digestive track process (duration of passage..)

@jqavins none taken. I know I'm not as smart as some think I am!

 

[jqavins]

I know I'm not as smart as some think I am!

In that case, you are wiser than most.

What is the definition of a berry?

Among other things, seeds on the inside. Strawberry and raspberry seeds grow on the outside.

 

[ljwilley]

The Eiffel Tower can increase in height by up to 6 inches in the summer because the metal grows as it heats up.

 

[kuririn]

Veronica Cartwright, the actress who played Lambert in ALIEN was a child actor and appeared in Leave It To Beaver as two of "The Beav's" classmates (Violet Rutherford, and Peggy MacIntosh).

View attachment 651130 View attachment 651131

And she is Angela Cartwrights' sister.

 

[OverTheTop]

Watermelons are actually berries (so are cucumbers, cantaloupes, squash and pumpkins). Whereas strawberries and raspberries are not.

The fruit flesh of wild watermelons is watery, but typically hard-textured, pale-colored and bland or bitter

Pineapples are also berries.

 

[Cape Byron]

Pineapples are also berries.

Dingleberries are not real berries.

 

[Cape Byron]

 

[K'Tesh]

Bamboo is not a tree or bush...Like maize (aka corn), it's a grass.

 

[ljwilley]

Bamboo is not a tree or bush...Like maize (aka corn), it's a grass.

I knew that! But I'm not sure how I know...

 

[jqavins]

I knew that! But I'm not sure how I know...

By looking at it? The ridges seen along its length are just like those seen on corn stalks and in overgrown lawns.

 

[cls]

Corn and bamboo are good eatin'.

Now I wonder, what is baby corn, is it really corn?

 

[K'Tesh]

what is baby corn, is it really corn?

Yes... Just picked before it can grow larger

 

[Azamiryou]

Bamboo is not a tree or bush...Like maize (aka corn), it's a grass.

Palms also aren't trees! Botanists (the same ones who say bananas are berries and cucumbers are fruits) would say a palm is an herb.

(Arborists and foresters, on the other hand, call them trees because they are so tree-like.)

 

[Art Upton]

And she is Angela Cartwrights' sister.

Penny

 

[bjphoenix]

The Eiffel Tower can increase in height by up to 6 inches in the summer because the metal grows as it heats up.

When it heats up does it grow fruits or vegetables? Might be more correct to say that it expands when it heats up.

 

[Bravo52]

Neptune, the planet, was discovered in 1846. Since then, it has only been around the sun once. Each orbit is approximately 165 years.

 

[K'Tesh]

The air speed velocity of an unladen European swallow is approximately 24 miles an hour.

 

[jqavins]

Palms also aren't trees! Botanists (the same ones who say bananas are berries and cucumbers are fruits) would say a palm is an herb.

(Arborists and foresters, on the other hand, call them trees because they are so tree-like.)

I have a totally irrational intense dislike of palms. Damn overgrown ferns with delusions of treehood. (No, they're not ferns either.) But I like dates and coconuts, so I guess I have to put up with them.

 

[NTP2]

approximately 24 miles an hour.

Must not be very European…

 

[beeblebrox]

Oh, good god, this again? (Sorry Paul, don't take this personally.) To a botanist, any thing from a plant is vegetable matter, and fruit is the seed bearing part of the plant. To a chef, fruit is the sweet, juicy, yummy stuff (or closely related stuff like lemons.) This is far, far from the only example of words having different meanings in different contexts.

Furthermore, when you look up and down the "vegetable" aisle, you'll see many fruits. Peppers have seeds inside; they're fruit. The whole squash and gourd family, from cucumbers to pumpkins, are fruits. Peas are seeds, but pea pods, like snow peas and sugar snap peas, are fruits. Eggplants are fruits. The only thing interesting about tomatoes in this regard is that people still talk about tomatoes as if they're unusual.

People once thought tomatoes were poisonous as they are related to nightshade which is deadly. Kudos to the first person who ate one and said where is the pasta...lol

 

[ljwilley]

The leaves/stems of tomato plants are slightly toxic, speaking of.

 

[jqavins]

[Some european] people once thought tomatoes were poisonous...

It's a new world species. The Aztecs whom the Spanish, umm, encountered ate them. And the Spanish ate them right away, but they were thought to be toxic elsewhere in Europe.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tomato

(I didn't know much of that until just now when I looked it up to confirm my strong suspicion that the Aztecs ate them before the stupid Euros came over.)

 

[drewnickel]

The leaves/stems of tomato plants are slightly toxic, speaking of.

Its kind of surprising how many things people eat that are technically toxic. Pokeweed being a big one in the south (all parts of the plant contain saponins which can lead to paralysis in large quantities, though cooking can break down some of the saponins), but also potatoes once they start turning green (the green is solanine being produced in response to exposure to sunlight to shield the potato from bugs). Eating large quantities of fish, especially tuna, can expose you to high levels of mercury as the fish naturally bioaccumulate mercury from the water. Tobacco similarly tends to collect radon from the decay of thorium and uranium in the soils in which its normally grown, and this radon is likely far more hazardous than the naturally occurring potassium 40 in bananas as the radon decays into polonium 210.