List of fruits

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Here are lists of all the fruits considered edible in some cuisine. Note that many true fruits are considered to be vegetables in the culinary sense (for example, the tomato), and hence do not appear in this article. There exist also many fruits that are edible but for various reasons have not become popular.

Contents

Temperate fruits

Fruits of temperate climates are almost universally borne on trees or woody shrubs or lianas. They will not grow adequately in the tropics, as they need a period of cold (a chilling requirement) each year before they will flower. The apple, pear, cherry, and plum are the most widely grown and eaten, owing to their adaptability. Many other fruits are important regionally but do not figure prominently in commerce. Many sorts of small fruit on this list are gathered from the wild, just as they were in Neolithic times.

The Family Rosaceae dominates the temperate fruits, both in numbers and in importance. The pome fruits, stone fruits, brambles, and strawberry are all members of Rosaceae.

The pome fruits:

The stone fruits, drupes of genus Prunus:

  • Apricot
  • Cherry, sweet, sour, and wild species (Prunus avium)
  • Plum, of which there are several domestic and wild species; dried plums are called prunes
  • Peach and its variant the nectarine (Prunus persica)
  • Hybrids of the preceding species, such as the pluot

In non-technical usage, berry means any small fruit that can be eaten whole and lacks objectionable seeds. The bramble fruits, compound fruits of genus Rubus, are some of the most popular pseudo-berries:

The true berries are dominated by the family Ericaceae, many of which are hardy in the subarctic:

Other berries (not in Ericaceae):

Some fruits native to Asia that were not common elsewhere until the 20th century:

Some tree fruits native to North America that are eaten in a small way:

Several cacti yield edible fruits, which are important traditional foods for some Native American peoples:


Some exceptions to the statement that temperate fruits grow on woody perennials are:

The false fruits are not botanically fruits at all but are used as fruits in the kitchen:

Mediterranean and subtropical fruits

Fruits in this category are not hardy to extreme cold, as the preceding temperate fruits are, yet tolerate some frost and may have a modest chilling requirement. Notable among these are natives of the Mediterranean:

In the important genus Citrus some members are tropical, tolerating no frost. All common species of commerce are somewhat hardy:

Other subtropical fruits:

Tropical fruits

Tropical fruit grow on plants of all habits. The only characteristic that they share is an intolerance of frost.

Nonedible fruit

See also


References

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