Cucumbers - fruit or vegetable?
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Steelpit202
Posts: 51 Member
I've learned that cucumbers are technically a fruit, but I've also heard of it being counted as a vegetable. Do you count cucumbers as vegetables? Depending on the size, I can eat a whole cucumber. Would those be servings of fruit or vegetables?
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When counting macros, food group doesn't really matter. That's a benefit of macros, IMO.
Personally, I would count it as a veggie because it's pretty low in sugar. The same with tomatoes.2 -
I tend to count them as a vegetable. But if you're worried about hitting your 5 serves of veg and 2 of fruit a day, and that's why you're asking - the recommendation is 5 veg and 2 fruit because they thought that people would be more likely to follow that than "eat 7 serves of veg a day". It really doesn't matter in the grand scheme of things.
Tomatoes, capsicum and avocado are all also technically fruit.0 -
Olives are apparently a fruit. Not that I called them a vegetable. Olives were just olives in my eye. My bad lol2
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Does it really matter? I call it a vegetable but I try not to make things overly complicated....2
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In Canada the recommendations don't differentiate between fruits and vegetables. Seven servings a day of any combination. I still struggle to meet it.2
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Olives are apparently a fruit. Not that I called them a vegetable. Olives were just olives in my eye. My bad lol
Haahaa you know, I've never even thought about that, I eat them all the time and olives are just olives to me. I guess I almost think of them like a condiment, rather than a fruit or veg? Weird.1 -
"Vegetable" is a culinary/food term....not a scientific term. Whether a plant or fungus (including the plant's fruit) is a vegetable depends entirely on its culinary use.2
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I just count the calories. Fortunately cucumbers don't have many.2
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Botanically, anything with seed in it is a fruit. Corn kernels, zucchini, and pea pods are fruits too! Culinary or nutritionally speaking, its more dependent on its usage. I like the idea of just going by macros instead. But I'd consider cucumber a veggie. In a pinch, I'd use sugar content as the differentiating factor.1
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Whether something is a vegetable depends on whether you're a chef or a botanist. Technically there are no vegetables (kiwis have seeds, so do tomatoes, much like cherries and olives). Mushrooms are a fungus, corn is a grain, etc.
But for chefs and normal people, fruits and vegetables are divided by sweetness/sugar and/or calorie count. I count cucumbers as a veg because I wouldn't eat it right before a big workout for fuel like I would a banana. Ymmv.0 -
This reminds me of one of my favorite quotes, which I have had on my MFP profile for years.
"Knowledge is knowing a tomato is a fruit. Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad." - attributed to Miles Kington17 -
Botanically, anything with seeds is a fruit. What we call vegetables are plants where we eat the vegetative parts--leaves (lettuce, spinach) stems (celery, rhubarb, asparagus), flower buds (artichoke, broccoli), and roots (carrot, turnip).
Also, botanically, cucumbers are a berry, but blackberries aren't true berries.3 -
Culinarily it is a vegetable, because it is less sweet than what is culinarily a fruit (and related to that it's low cal). Nutritionally it is considered a veg too, although I don't think it's as high in micros as many (not a knock, I love cucumbers and eat them a lot, especially in the summer). Botanically it is a fruit, but that's not really what the vegetable recommendations focus on.
I don't think it matters much, but personally I do try to get 7+ servings of vegetables a day (or just 2 or more per meal, which works out--I don't really count servings that rigorously, though, and go with what seems like a good amount). I eat fruit too but don't consider it quite the same or a replacement for vegetables.0 -
Alatariel75 wrote: »Olives are apparently a fruit. Not that I called them a vegetable. Olives were just olives in my eye. My bad lol
Haahaa you know, I've never even thought about that, I eat them all the time and olives are just olives to me. I guess I almost think of them like a condiment, rather than a fruit or veg? Weird.
Heh, I'm the same. I love them, but just think of them as a fat source, without counting them as a veg. Too high cal and indeed more of a condiment.
(Avocados get counted by me as a fruit, though, although a fruit I consider extra beneficial despite the calories because of the fat. Weird.)0 -
This reminds me of one of my favorite quotes, which I have had on my MFP profile for years.
"Knowledge is knowing a tomato is a fruit. Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad." - attributed to Miles Kington
Although a tomato/watermelon salad is one of the more delicious salad options. (Add feta too.) I suppose I wouldn't call it a fruit salad, though, despite the fact it is! ;-)0 -
lemurcat12 wrote: »I eat fruit too but don't consider it quite the same or a replacement for vegetables.
Why do you differentiate? Until recently, I did too. Fruits seem like an easier path. Cheating almost. But I'm coming around to the idea that despite the fact that they tend to be packaged with a bit of sugar, they are roughly equal in terms of fibre and nutrients.
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bananas are technically herbs. But I wouldn't treat them in the same way I did, say, rosemary.0
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girlinahat wrote: »bananas are technically herbs. But I wouldn't treat them in the same way I did, say, rosemary.
A banana is an edible fruit and botanically a berry. Although a banana tree is classified as an herbaceous plant, that is not the same as saying the fruit of the banana tree is an herb.2 -
girlinahat wrote: »bananas are technically herbs. But I wouldn't treat them in the same way I did, say, rosemary.
The plant as a whole is a herbaceous plant. (It's not a tree.) The banana part we eat is the fruit/berry. In culinary terms, herbs come from the leafy part of a plant while spices come from other parts that have been dried and crushed. So, the part we eat is a fruit for sure, and would qualify as a spice if you used it as such. The banana leaves could be herbs, if used that way, but not the fruit.2 -
lemurcat12 wrote: »Alatariel75 wrote: »Olives are apparently a fruit. Not that I called them a vegetable. Olives were just olives in my eye. My bad lol
Haahaa you know, I've never even thought about that, I eat them all the time and olives are just olives to me. I guess I almost think of them like a condiment, rather than a fruit or veg? Weird.
Heh, I'm the same. I love them, but just think of them as a fat source, without counting them as a veg. Too high cal and indeed more of a condiment.
(Avocados get counted by me as a fruit, though, although a fruit I consider extra beneficial despite the calories because of the fat. Weird.)
Yep and technically olive oil is fruit juice hehe I still can't get my head around that one.2
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