Has it ever crossed your mind, if the carrot you eat is a fruit or vegetable?
Carrots
Most times, we dice them up and toss them into our fruit salad, without knowing if it’s a vegetable or fruit. Tomatoes also fall into the same category, the juicy red ball we usually use as a veggie in our salads and dishes is actually a fruit! In summary, carrot is a veggie and not a fruit.
How is this possible? According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary; “Any thing that grows on a plant and is the means by which that plant gets its seeds out into the world is a fruit,” This means a fruit isn’t part of the plant itself, but a reproductive part growing from the plant. When we eat vegetables, on the other hand, we’re just eating the plant itself or some of its parts like; roots, stems, or leaves.
Differences between Fruits and vegetables
Fruits and Vegetables can be differentiated in two ways; Botanical and Culinary.
Botanically, fruits come from a plant and contain seeds while culinary, they are edible parts of the plant that aren’t really sweet. And vegetables are a part of the plant that doesn’t contain seed, meaning it’s a root, leaf, or stem.
Carrots nutritionally contain a high amount of vitamin A. It doesn’t matter which type of carrots you choose, you’ll get all the vitamin A you need for the day. Eating carrots is a smart and easy way of lowering calories in your body.
In conclusion, If you were confused whether a carrot is a fruit or a vegetable, by now you’ve gotten your answer!
Carrots are attractive and a tasty treat which can be prepared in different ways with different ingredients while retaining its nutritional properties. Canned carrot are convenient and stress free but they can also be high in sodium. Canned carrot contains 15% of sodium compared to the raw or cooked carrot which contains just four percent of sodium. For healthy options, you can eat raw carrots or cook your carrots from scratch, using a healthy cooking method, like boiling, grilling or roasting.
