What is a pumpkin? Is it a vegetable or a fruit?

In nature, there are many vegetables. But boast a variety of appearance can only pumpkin. It is huge and small, flat and spherical, bumpy and smooth. Often there is a dispute, pumpkin - a vegetable or fruit? About this and many other things, read in the article.

Historical reference

The homeland of the pumpkin is America. This vegetable is considered the most ancient culture of peoples of such states as Mexico, Bolivia, Peru and Chile. Pumpkin thanks to the power of growth, nutritional and medicinal properties, excellent taste, huge fruit size and high yields has become the basis of life of the ancient civilizations of the American continent. It was consumed in large quantities for food. Pumpkin was widely used in the household. Ancestors considered her a cult plant. And today the main ritual attribute of Halloween is a large orange pumpkin.

What is a pumpkin: fruit or vegetable?

If you follow the claims of botanists, fruits are fruits of shrubs, trees with a juicy pulp, formed from the ovary of flowers. In fact, this definition is suitable for cucumbers with tomatoes, and for aubergines with zucchini.

A pumpkin is a vegetable or a fruit? Again, we turn to science. For botanists, a vegetable is an edible part of any plant. The exception is berries, fruits, seeds and nuts. As for root crops, it is not yet determined what it is. Although they are often considered vegetables, being guided by the fact that they are edible. Thus, the fruit is a pumpkin or vegetable, there is no precise definition. Therefore, what this culture is, is unknown. Scientists consider pumpkin a fruit, and most consumers - a vegetable.

What is a pumpkin: a vegetable or a berry?

To answer this question, let us turn to scientific sources. In the botany section, a fruit with a large number of seeds is considered a berry, which has a dense shell and a juicy pulp. Pumpkin is a berry or a vegetable? Let's try to understand. For example, watermelon. Its scientists consider it a berry, since it is suitable for description. But we, ordinary consumers, do not we call it that? Take the grapes. Many consider it a fruit, although it is a berry. So what is a pumpkin - a berry or a vegetable? Open question. On the one hand, it has many seeds, a dense crust, a juicy tasty pulp. It seems to be a berry. But at least once did someone call a pumpkin a berry?

Classification

All people who consume fruits, adhere to their systematization is based on a culinary attribute. In this sense fruits are fruits with juicy sweet flesh, which are used in raw form, and vegetables - those that need culinary processing. But there may be confusion. For example, a tomato. It is most often eaten raw, although it is a vegetable. The apple can be baked in the oven, that is, processed, but it will still be a fruit.

There are many classifications of fruits. They are all confused and not fully understood. Therefore, one should not pay attention to such a division of fruits according to various characteristics. Eat all that benefits the body, and do not understand: pumpkin - a vegetable or fruit. Let scientists do this.

Types of culture

Cultural and wild species of pumpkin create a variety of shapes and colors. The first in nature there are only five, and the last - sixteen. But today not all kinds of pumpkins are grown in the world, but mostly only three. This is a large-fruited, hard-root and muscat squash. They are easy to distinguish, if you pay attention to the stems. In the first species it has a round-cylindrical shape, in the second it has a ribbed surface with grooves, in the latter it has the shape of a pentahedral expanded at the base, somewhat resembling the Eiffel Tower.

Pumpkin large-fruited

The birthplace of culture is Bolivia and Peru. Even in ancient times a pumpkin was brought to China and India, where it was grown everywhere. It is here that it reaches a gigantic size, each fruit weighs a hundred kilograms and more.

This is the sweetest variety of pumpkin. It contains fifteen percent of sugar, while in watermelon - only eleven. Fruits have a different color, a round or flat shape, they often have small tubercles. Pumpkin species have varieties. In a large-fruited culture, there are three:

• Mammoth. It differs in huge sizes, bright colors, thin flesh, a large seed chamber and a small sugar content. This gourd is loved by truck farmers and is happy to grow such varieties as Titan and Goliath.
• Winter. This pumpkin has small dimensions of flat hummocky fruits. They are painted in dark green or gray. The fruit tastes very sweet. Pulp differs in density and bright orange color, reminiscent of carrots, which indicates a high content of carotene. The most delicious table varieties of this species are Marble and Kherson.
• Seroplodnaya. This kind of pumpkin has a round-flat shape and weighs up to thirty kilograms. The flesh is thick and not sweet.

Muscat pumpkin

Description This kind of culture will not be complete, if not to say that this is the most thermophilic tropical plant. It grows on the territory of Mexico, Colombia, Peru, Central America. In our climate, it does not ripen in conditions of open soil. Fruits differ elongated shape, smooth or slightly ribbed surface. An unripe pumpkin is green, and ripe fruit is yellow or brownish.

This species has a thick flesh and a small seed chamber. Rich in vitamins and carotene. The sugar in this pumpkin is only ten percent. Cultivated mainly such varieties as Turkestan, North American and Japanese.

Pumpkin sturgeon

To understand, pumpkin - a vegetable or fruit, you need to get acquainted with this culture. For example, the homeland of a solid-grained pumpkin is Mexico. There are following its varieties:

• The bush. These are zucchini, zucchini, eggplant. They have long been known in Europe, they came to us from the Mediterranean countries. They are used exclusively in an immature form. In ripe fruits, the juiciness of the pulp is lost and the crust rustens, hence the name. The plant bush is very convenient to process.
• Long-sleeved. A feature of this variety of solid-grained pumpkin is the ability to tie many fruits of small sizes. It is rare.

• Decorative. This pumpkin is grown to decorate gardens. It is a ritual subject in the peoples of Mexico and the South of America. It can grow in the form of striped balls, spotty pears or miniature copies of other fruits.