That’s Just Nuts

It’s not what you think it is

By Sage Krzak - 10-27-2025

“Dinner Time”

Today we are making grilled chicken with a salad, and a mixed berry pie for dessert. We lay out our freshly purchased ingredients, lettuce, onions, tomatoes, cucumbers, carrots, bell peppers, walnuts, sliced almonds, and Makoto ginger dressing on one side of the counter. We lay out pie crust, strawberries, raspberries, blackberries, and whipped cream on the other side. As cooks, we know that there will be three types of berries in this delicious pie, and we won’t have any in the salad. We’ll sprinkle some nuts over the salad too.  As botanists, we know better.

In fact, the only true berries on this menu are the tomatoes, cucumbers, and bell peppers. The berry pie is a fraud. There are also no nuts whatsoever in this meal. What’s the deal? I don’t want to start a food fight or anything, but let’s set some things straight.

“Food Fight!”

The deal here is that we’re looking at this from two very different perspectives. The cook in us knows that strawberries are sweet and juicy. They are great in desserts. They can be great in salads too. But, we know that tomatoes and cucumbers don’t belong in a sweet pie. If we think about it, we know that tomatoes and cucumbers are fruit, but we classify them as vegetables in the kitchen. And nuts. Who cares? If they can all be thrown together in a bowl with nutcrackers on the side during holidays, they’re nuts. 

Botanically, we aren’t so interested in classifying them by taste and texture. We want science. We want to know the anatomy behind it. We need more structure. We know that if you want a berry pie for dessert then you need to put a banana in it. So, why is a berry not a berry, and why is a nut not a nut?

Let’s Berry This Once And For All

Culinarily speaking, berries should be small, sweet fruit. It’s a good classification system, and it makes a lot of sense in the produce aisle. If I want to make a berry pie, I can rummage through my fridge and come out with blueberries, blackberries, strawberries, or raspberries. I might not come back with grapes though. They don’t quite fit the kitchen definition of a berry, but they are, in fact, berries. Don’t worry, blueberries are true berries as well. I didn’t want to upset you too much all at once.

Botanically, these fruits have to possess certain anatomical features. A fruit is the mature, seed-bearing ovary of a flowering plant. A true berry, more specifically, is a fruit that develops from a single flower with a single ovary. There’s a little more to it, but this definition covers it pretty well.

Strawberries do not fit this definition. Actually, strawberries are a really cool class called aggregate and accessory fruits.They interestingly fit 2 different categories, but not berries. The fleshy, juicy, mouthwatering part we love is not a ripened ovary. It is actually the receptacle of the strawberry flower, and the seeds on the outside are actually the true fruits. Yeah, that’s right. These little overlooked black specks dotting the rosy surface are the true fruits, known as achenes, and each one contains within it a single seed.

Blackberries, mulberries, cherries, strawberries, etc. are not berries. Here are some berries that you’ve probably met in the kitchen or at a restaurant, but you never became properly acquainted. Bananas, avocados, tomatoes, peppers, pumpkins, grapes, kiwis, oranges, limes, pomegranate, and cucumbers are the real deal. Well ain’t that just sweet?

In A Nutshell

Wow, we had a pretty long list of berries/imposters, and we were trying to keep this short too. The fact is, there are a lot more kinds of fruits generally available in the grocery store than there are types of nuts. We’ll probably find walnuts, peanuts, almonds, pistachios, macadamia nuts, Brazil nuts, hazelnuts, pecans, cashews, pine nuts, coconuts (this ones’s a long shot), and maybe chestnuts during the right time of year. That pretty much covers Kroger, Publix, or Walmart. 

Now it’s time for the nutcracker. Only two of these are true nuts, hazelnuts and chestnuts. Another great example of a true nut, possibly one of the best examples, is the acorn, or oak nut. You just don’t find many acorns in the snack aisle. 

What defines a true nut, and why are we benching all of these other players? According to Merriam-Webster, “a true nut is a hard-shelled dry fruit or seed with a separable rind or shell and an interior kernel, or the kernel itself. Botanically, it's a dry, indehiscent fruit with a woody pericarp and one seed, like an acorn or hazelnut, that does not open at maturity.” 

Peanuts are legumes. They’re in a category of their own. Many of the others are the seed of a drupe. Think cherries and peaches. Pine trees do not produce flowers, so they do not produce fruit, cutting them from the team. You get the picture.

At The Root Of It All

Digging in a little deeper now, we come to roots. The Merriam Webster definition of a root, when talking botany, is “The underground part of a plant that anchors it and absorbs water and nutrients”. Cool. I think we all get that already. So, what about potatoes, carrots, beets, ginger, onions, and yuca? We’re 50/50 with this lineup. 

Beets, carrots, and yuca are all true roots. Beets are classified as a swollen taproot and hypocotyl (the part of the axis of a plant embryo or seedling below the cotyledon - Merriam-Webster). Carrots are taproots. Yuca is a tuberous root. On the other hand, potatoes are a swollen underground stem called a tuber. Ginger is a rhizome, also an underground stem. Onions are bulbs, or underground stems surrounded by modified leaves. 

Let’s Nip It In The Bud

I’d consider twice before getting into this exchange at the next dinner party. I bet that your local garden club would love it though. The fact is that it’s about perspective. Are you eating it or growing it? Are you in the kitchen or in the forest? Both perspectives are true in the eyes of the beholder. It all comes down to your roots, and which ecosystem you’re in when the conversation comes up. After all, "What's in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet" (Romeo And Juliet).