Scientifically known as Olea Europaea (which means European Olive), an olive is a species of small tree of the Oleaceae family. It is significantly discovered and common around the Mediterranean Basin.
Olive is a little oval-shaped fruit featuring a hard stone and bitter flesh, which is green if unripe and blue-black if ripe. But is an olive a fruit or vegetable?
Going by the above brief definition of an olive, an olive is a fruit because there is a seed inside of it, and it grows from the plant’s flowers.
In a simple term, anything that contains a pit or seed is a fruit. We’ll come back to that later.
Table of Contents
Differences Between Fruits and Vegetables
There’s no doubting the fact that both fruits and vegetables are good and essential for your body. However, some people don’t know the differences between them, even though they know both are different, especially in terms.
From several perspectives, including structure, taste, and nutrition, fruits and vegetables are different.
Meanwhile, both are classified from both a botanical and culinary aspect. In other words, they are both classified based on the part of the plant from which they originate.
Fruits grow from plants’ flowers, whereas other components of the plant are classified as vegetables.
Again, as we stated earlier in this article, fruits have seeds inside of them, whereas vegetables are made up of plants’ roots, stems, and leaves. In terms of culinary aspects, fruits and vegetables can be differentiated by their tastes.
While fruits significantly possess sweet or tart flavor, which makes them ideal for desserts, snacks, or making juices, vegetables are characterized by a more mild or savory taste; hence, they are often consumed as part of a side dish or main food itself.
Is an Olive a Fruit or Vegetable?
If you are still confused about whether to classify an olive as fruit or vegetable, you only need to read from the beginning of this article to the end. That way, you will get both the definition of olive, why it is categorized as fruit rather than vegetable, and other things you need to know.
Olives are considered a fruit because, as we mentioned earlier, it contains seeds and develops from the plant’s flowers. In other words, whatever plant variety that have seed in them is considered a fruit.
Why is Olive Considered a Fruit?
First of all, we all know that fruits are edible components of plants that are developed from flowers. They are also products of plant development that are useful for both humans and animals.
Fruits are also parts of plants that have seeds in them (all other parts are seen as vegetables, including the stems, leaves, and roots). For this reason, an olive is considered a fruit.
And just like several other fruits, olives have numerous health advantages. For instance, they contain fiber, essential vitamins and minerals, and strong antioxidants, which you can enjoy via cold-pressing of additional unused olive oil, or snatching a handful of tasty stuffed or cured olives.
Again, since fruits are edible components of plants that develop from flowers and trees, an olive is considered a fruit because it grows on trees, is significantly reaped and squeezed into use like olive oil, and is well-refined so that it can be eatable.
Therefore, like plums, tomatoes, artichokes, and cucumbers, olives are fruits.
Is Olive Considered a Vegetable?
The Random House Unabridged Dictionary defines a vegetable as any edible part of any plant whose fruit, seeds, roots, tubers, bulbs, stems, leaves, or flower components are eatable as food.
Going by the above definition, can we now say that an olive is a vegetable?
To put it in a simple term, all fruits are seen as vegetables, yet not all vegetables are fruits. Every component of the plant that is not developed from flowers and is non-reproductive is vegetables.
Examples of these plants are Lettuce, potatoes, celery, and beets, amongst others (they are all considered vegetables).
An olive is confused as a vegetable due to its culinary perspective. It is seen as a vegetable because of its savory flavor and not traditionally a dessert, thereby making many people believe it is a vegetable.
Olives are seen as vegetables because they are eaten in savory dishes or on their own as snacks, and so on.
Is An Olive A Simple Fruit?
Any fruit that a part or all of its pericarp or fruit wall is fleshy during its mature stage is considered simple fleshy fruits.
In other words, since the olive fits into this description, we can say that it is a simple fruit. Berries like tomato and avocado and stone fruit drupes like plum, cherry, peach, and olive are all considered simple fruits.
Related Posts:
- Are Peanuts Fruits Or Vegetable?
- Is Watermelon a Berry or a Fruit?
- Is Carrot A Fruit Or Vegetable?
- Is Onion a Fruit or Vegetable?
- Is Bell Pepper A Fruit Or A Vegetable?
