You know the adage “Not everything is as it seems”? It’s usually used to contemplate the meaning of life—but it also applies to … produce.
Case in point: Tomatoes are fruits, but they’re eaten as vegetables. Almonds are seeds, but they’re eaten as nuts. Pumpkins are berries, but strawberries are not. Is your head spinning yet? Yeah, ours too.
Botany is a funny thing, with its own set of guidelines that sometimes conflict with culinary definitions. Take bananas, for example. In the culinary sense, bananas are known as fruits and are considered different from berries. But what does science say? Read on to find out if bananas are berries or fruits once and for all—after a little botanical education.