WEBVTT - Why Are Bananas Berries, but Strawberries Aren't?

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<v Speaker 1>Welcome to brain Stuff production of iHeart Radio. Hey brain Stuff,

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<v Speaker 1>Lauren Vogelbaum. Here, there's an age old war of terminology

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<v Speaker 1>in the culinary world that you're probably familiar with tomato,

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<v Speaker 1>fruit or vegetable, But there's another lesser known existential crisis

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<v Speaker 1>in the kitchen that demands some attention to Bananas. Are

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<v Speaker 1>they berries? And if so, what the heck are berries anyway?

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<v Speaker 1>Botanically speaking, these particular dilemmas may have never crossed your mind,

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<v Speaker 1>but once you start digging into the topic, you might

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<v Speaker 1>find you end up with more questions than you started

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<v Speaker 1>out with. For instance, what even is a fruit? Botanists

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<v Speaker 1>consider fruit to be the parts of flowering plants that

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<v Speaker 1>developed from the ovary, and a vegetable. That's a little trickier,

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<v Speaker 1>since it's pretty much any part of the plant that

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<v Speaker 1>isn't considered a fruit or seed. Within the fruit family,

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<v Speaker 1>you've got subcategories that include citrus, stone fruits, palms like

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<v Speaker 1>apples and pears, droops like peaches and apricots, and pertinent

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<v Speaker 1>to our discussion today, berries. The differences between these subcategories

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<v Speaker 1>comes down to which part of the plant's flour and

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<v Speaker 1>ovary produces the skin, flesh, and seeds of the fruit

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<v Speaker 1>in question. The technical definition of a berry is a

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<v Speaker 1>fleshy fruit produced from a single ovary. If you're not

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<v Speaker 1>too familiar with botany, this definition probably isn't helpful at all.

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<v Speaker 1>But once you learn that oranges and tomatoes fit that

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<v Speaker 1>definition to a t and therefore could be considered berries,

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<v Speaker 1>you may start to question reality. Go a step further

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<v Speaker 1>and find out that strawberries, yes, those delicious red fruits

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<v Speaker 1>with berry literally in the name, aren't officially berries either.

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<v Speaker 1>They're accessory fruits, meaning the flesh that surrounds the seeds

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<v Speaker 1>doesn't actually come from the plant's ovaries, but from the

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<v Speaker 1>ovaries receptacle. I didn't think would be talking so much

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<v Speaker 1>about ovaries in this episode, did you. By the way,

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<v Speaker 1>raspberries aren't technically berries either. It all goes to show

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<v Speaker 1>that our language, and especially the connective tissue between our

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<v Speaker 1>everyday language and our scientific language, is highly flexible. So

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<v Speaker 1>scientifically speaking, what exactly is a berry? Well, a berry

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<v Speaker 1>has three layers of flesh, the exocarp or the outer skin,

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<v Speaker 1>the mesocarp or the flesh in the middle, and the endocarp,

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<v Speaker 1>which is the innermost part. That holds the seeds, and

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<v Speaker 1>guess what has all of those layers The yellow, peeled,

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<v Speaker 1>white fleshed, seed carrying banana, which, by the way, is

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<v Speaker 1>the number one fruit choice in the United States according

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<v Speaker 1>to the U s d A. In every Man, Woman, child,

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<v Speaker 1>and otherwise identifying human person ate about eleven pounds or

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<v Speaker 1>five kilos of bananas. Berries must also have two or

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<v Speaker 1>more seeds, and their fruit must develop from a flower

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<v Speaker 1>with a single ovary. Once again, the banana checks all

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<v Speaker 1>of those boxes, and weirdly, so does the tomato, eggplant,

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<v Speaker 1>kiwi and bell pepper. Oranges are a specific type of

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<v Speaker 1>berrier called a Hesperidium thanks to their distinct segments. So

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<v Speaker 1>in conclusion, bananas are berries, strawberries and raspberries are not,

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<v Speaker 1>and you will never again know peace. In the produced section,

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<v Speaker 1>today's episode was written by Michell Kanstandrodowski and produced by

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<v Speaker 1>Tyler Clay. Brain Stuff is production of I Heart Radio's

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<v Speaker 1>How Stuff Works. For more in this and lots of

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<v Speaker 1>other botanical topics, visit our home planet, how stuff Works

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<v Speaker 1>dot com and for more podcasts from my heart Radio Physic,

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