Botanically, what is a fruit?

The seed-bearing structure from a flower

What kind of fruit is a pineapple?

A multiple fruit from many flowers

Botanical Food Facts Quiz With Answers: Test Your Knowledge

Botanically, a cucumber is a fruit, a strawberry is not a berry and a peanut is not a nut, and this botanical food facts quiz with answers reveals the plant science behind everyday food. Learn what makes a fruit, a nut, a vegetable and a grain, and why chefs and botanists disagree.

Start Botanical Food Facts Quiz With Answers Quiz

🎯 Daily Trivia Challenge • 🧠 10 Questions • ⏱️ 150 Seconds

Question 1 / 10 Time: 150s

Fruit
Botanically, what is a fruit?
Vegetable
Is vegetable a botanical term?
Nut
Which of these is a true botanical nut?
Rhubarb
What part of rhubarb do we eat?
Grain
What is a grain botanically?
Corn
What is a single corn kernel botanically?
Pineapple
What kind of fruit is a pineapple?
Cashew
Where does the cashew nut grow?
Broccoli
What part of broccoli do we eat?
Saffron
What part of the crocus is saffron?

Explanations: answer key for all 10 questions

Q1: Botanically, what is a fruit?
Answer: The seed-bearing structure from a flower
Tomatoes and cucumbers count.
Q2: Is vegetable a botanical term?
Answer: No, it is a culinary term
It covers many plant parts.
Q3: Which of these is a true botanical nut?
Answer: Hazelnut
Almonds are drupe seeds.
Q4: What part of rhubarb do we eat?
Answer: Leaf stalks
It is treated as a fruit in cooking.
Q5: What is a grain botanically?
Answer: A dry fruit of grasses
Wheat and rice are grains.
Q6: What is a single corn kernel botanically?
Answer: A fruit
It is called a caryopsis.
Q7: What kind of fruit is a pineapple?
Answer: A multiple fruit from many flowers
The flowers fuse together.
Q8: Where does the cashew nut grow?
Answer: Hanging below a cashew apple
Its shell is toxic.
Q9: What part of broccoli do we eat?
Answer: Flower buds and stems
Florets are unopened flowers.
Q10: What part of the crocus is saffron?
Answer: The stigma
Each flower gives three.

Botanical Food Facts Quiz – Plant Science on Your Plate

Botanists and cooks use different definitions for the same foods. Botanically, a fruit is the seed-bearing structure that develops from a flower, so tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers and pumpkins are fruits. Vegetable is a culinary term, not a botanical one.

Many foods surprise botanists' categories. Peanuts are legumes, almonds are seeds of drupes and hazelnuts are true nuts. Strawberries are not true berries, while bananas are. Pineapples are multiple fruits formed from many fused flowers.

We eat every part of plants: roots like carrots, stems like kohlrabi, leaf stalks like rhubarb, flower buds like broccoli and stigmas like saffron. Grains, such as wheat, rice and corn, are actually dry fruits of grasses.

What This Quiz Teaches

Science fans and food lovers will enjoy these questions.

What a fruit really is
Why vegetable isn't botanical
Which nuts are true nuts
What part rhubarb is
Why grains are fruits

Did You Know?

Capers are flower buds.
Cinnamon is tree bark.
Cloves are dried flower buds.
Vanilla is an orchid pod.
Quinoa is a seed, not a grain.