Are Gourds a Fruit or Vegetable?

We've all heard the question asked, is a tomato a fruit or a vegetable? Well now I have asked, are GOURDS Fruit, or Vegetable? Thanks to someone's comment on one of my gourd articles, I did a little research to find out if a gourd was a fruit or a vegetable, and here is what I found out about both the tomato, and the gourd, as well as all fruits and vegetables.

A gourd, a tomato, squash, pumpkin, and cucumbers, are all, (are you ready for this friends?), from a botanical perspective, they are all FRUITS!!! Yes, that's right, fruits! Shocking isn't it? That is what I thought when I read what I read on this horticulture web site. According to this site, (sorry, it was an info page, and I couldn't find the name), what makes a fruit a fruit, is how, or I should say where the seed grows. Fruits grow their seeds on the inside of the fruit. Vegetables do not. Vegetables grow their seeds on the plant, usually on a stalk that grows from the plant, and inside of a flower.

Are GOURDS Fruit, or Vegetable? - Let's look at this a little closer, and I think you will see the connection, just as I did. Here is a list of fruits, I would like you to think about each one, and where you would find their seeds..., oranges, pears, apples, watermelon, papaya, mango, peaches, cantaloupe, strawberry, (the seed is on the outside, but still inside the fruit), kiwi, plums, tangerines, nectarines, and cherry. I have left out a few, but you get the idea.

Are GOURDS Fruit, or Vegetable? - Let's look at what we know to be a vegetable now... Let's see, there are, cucumbers, tomatoes, squash, pumpkin, (some believe pumpkins are a veggie), lettuce, celery, cabbage, spinach, cauliflower, and broccoli.

Okay, we have our fruits and our veggies separated above, or do we? Look at these two groups, and think about where you find their seeds. Yes, all the fruits listed above, are indeed fruits by botanical standards, but are the vegetables really all vegetables? As we now know, they are not all vegetables. Tomatoes, squash, cucumbers, these are NOT vegetables, they are fruits, because their seeds grow on the inside, not on the stem or stalk of the plant.

So why are so many fruits called vegetables? Good question, and the answer just may shock your socks off... The law says that certain fruits are vegetables, and if you are a farmer, and sell your fruits and veggies at the farmers market, you better make sure that you know what the LAW says a fruit and vegetable are, because if you get it wrong, you can get into a lot of legal trouble! See, told you it would shock your socks off, LOL It gets better though. There is a reason that this law was put in place. The reason is... MONEY!!! In 1893 most tomatoes were imported from the West Indies, and were subject to a 10% tarrif. Fruits, however were not subject to any tarrif. So the Supreme Court made a decision to pass a law making tomatoes, (which are fruits), vegetables.

So there you have it. From a botanical point, Gourds are fruits, as are squash and cucumbers, and even tomatoes. So for those who have wondered about this question, you now have an answer. However, from a legal aspect, these are all vegetables, not fruits, and if you sell any of these fruits, you better make sure you tell the customer it is a vegetable! Strange, but so very true!!!

So, Are GOURDS Fruit, or Vegetable? They are without a doubt, botanically speaking, a fruit, because gourds are a type of squash, and a squash, is a fruit because their seeds grow on the inside, and so do gourd seeds! Legally however, and unfortunately this is what we have to go by, a gourd is a vegetable.

Resource links:

http://www.thegourdreserve.com

http://www.hort.cornell.edu/extension/question.html

http://ask.yahoo.com/20010411.html

http://forums.gardenweb.com/forums/load/teach/msg011956409905.html - This is a forum, but some good reading here on the fruit, veggie dilema.