Which familiar foods are botanical fruits even though they are often used as vegetables?

Botanically, a fruit is defined as the ripened ovary of a flowering plant that encloses its seeds, serving the primary purpose of seed protection and dissemination. While popular usage often restricts the term "fruit" to sweet, succulent plant parts, many familiar foods used as savory vegetables are technically fruits because they contain seeds and develop from a flower's ovary.123

Common examples of botanical fruits frequently treated as vegetables include:

• Tomatoes12
• Cucumbers13
• Squash (including zucchini)34
• Peppers (such as bell peppers)34
• Eggplants24
• Avocados14
• Green beans and other bean pods124
• Pumpkins24
• Corn (grains)14
• Okra4

These items are classified as vegetables in a culinary or nutritional context because they are typically served as part of a savory meal rather than as a dessert. Conversely, true vegetables—such as carrots, potatoes, and onions—are the edible vegetative parts of a plant, such as roots, stems, or leaves, and do not function as the plant's reproductive body.243