8 Vegetables That Are Actually Fruits!

By Niveditha Kalyanaraman

September 6th, 2023

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Vegetables and fruits are two sides of a culinary story. A fruit is “a mature, ripened ovary, along with the contents of that ovary” (seeds, for example). So your salads might most likely have more fruits than vegetables. Here are 8 vegetables that are actually fruits!

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Olives

Olives are drupes and if you crack open the pit, you’ll see the actual seed of the olive tree.

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Cucumber

Belonging to the Cucurbitaceae family, like watermelons and cantaloupes, these veggies are actually cool fruits.

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Pumpkin

Rinds, fleshy interiors and seeds- checking every box of being a fruit.

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Okra

With a seedy interior, ladies finger (Okra) is a fruit from the Malvaceae family (or mallow family).

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String Beans

Casing and seeds make it a fruit. The individual beans inside are just seeds. 

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Eggplant

These are seed bearing, fleshy fruits belonging to the Solanaceae family, sometimes called the “potato family."

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Chillies

You can thank a chemical called capsaicin for this, as they belong to the Solanaceae family and are fruits.

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Tomatoes

You knew this was coming. Hailing from the Solanaceae family, tomatoes are widely known to be a vegetable that is actually a fruit.

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