Is A Cantaloupe A Type Of Melon Or Berry?

The word “melon” can refer to either the plant or specifically to the fruit. Botanically, a melon is a kind of berry, specifically a “pepo”.

Is a cantaloupe considered a berry?

Get ready to have your fruit-loving minds blown: Watermelons are berries. And so are cucumbers, cantaloupes, squash and pumpkins. Scientifically called pepos, these fruits fall into a specific category of berry—one with a tough rind, multiple flat seeds and pulpy flesh.

Is cantaloupe a type of melon?

The bottom line
Honeydew melon and cantaloupe are two popular varieties of melon. Honeydew melon has a smooth, light-colored rind and green flesh, while cantaloupe has a darker, netted rind and orange flesh. Both are sweet and nutritious, but cantaloupe contains more vitamin C and provitamin A.

What type of fruit is cantaloupe?

The cantaloupe is a juicy, orange summer fruit that’s related to the watermelon and honeydew melon. It also belongs to the same plant family as cucumbers, pumpkins, squashes, and gourds. The semi-sweet cantaloupes most familiar to people in the U.S. are a type of muskmelon called Cucumis melo reticulatus.

Why are melons berries?

The exocarp of a watermelon is its rind, then comes the pink, delicious insides and the seeds. To be classified as a berry, a fruit must have two or more seeds and must develop from “a flower that has one ovary.” So, fruit that fit this category include tomatoes, peppers, cranberries, eggplants and kiwis.

Which fruits are berries?

Any small fleshy fruit is popularly called a berry, especially if it is edible. Raspberries, blackberries, and strawberries, for example, are not true berries but are aggregate fruits—fruits that consist of a number of smaller fruits. Cranberries and blueberries, however, are true botanical berries.

What is the difference between a melon and a berry?

A melon is any of various plants of the family Cucurbitaceae with sweet, edible, and fleshy fruit. The word “melon” can refer to either the plant or specifically to the fruit. Botanically, a melon is a kind of berry, specifically a “pepo”.

What is the difference between a cantaloupe and a melon?

There is a taste difference in the two. Honeydew melon is slightly sweeter with a firm, green flesh, while cantaloupe has softer, orange flesh.

Is honeydew a berry?

Honeydew melon, or honeymelon, is a fruit that belongs to the melon species cucumis melo (muskmelon). The sweet flesh of honeydew is typically light green, while its skin has a white-yellow tone. Its size and shape are similar to that of its relative, the cantaloupe.

Is a strawberry a berry?

And the popular strawberry is not a berry at all. Botanists call the strawberry a “false fruit,” a pseudocarp. A strawberry is actually a multiple fruit which consists of many tiny individual fruits embedded in a fleshy receptacle.

Which melon is the healthiest?

Watermelon contains the least amount of calories, coming in at 46 calories per one-cup serving. However, it’s loaded with the antioxidant lycopene, which is linked to decreased risk of cancer, heart disease and age-related eye disorders, and contains a good amount of vitamin A, vitamin C and potassium.

Which is healthier watermelon or cantaloupe?

Cantaloupe has more immune system-boosting vitamin C than watermelon. It contains lutein and zeaxanthin, antioxidants that help to prevent macular degeneration, in which the retina deteriorates.

What is the healthiest fruit?

Top 10 healthiest fruits

1. 1 Apple. A low-calorie snack, high in both soluble and insoluble fiber.
2. 2 Avocado. The most nutritious fruit in the world.
3. 3 Banana.
4. 4 Citrus fruits.
5. 5 Coconut.
6. 6 Grapes.
7. 7 Papaya.
8. 8 Pineapple.

Is a banana really a berry?

It turns out that blackberries, mulberries, and raspberries are not berries at all, but bananas, pumpkins, avocados and cucumbers are. So what makes a berry? Well, a berry has seeds and pulp (properly called “pericarp”) that develop from the ovary of a flower.

Is a pineapple a berry?

A pineapple is neither a pine nor an apple, but a fruit consisting of many berries that have grown together. This also means that Pineapples are not a single fruit, but a group of berries that have fused together. The technical term for this is a “multiple fruit” or a “collective fruit”.

Is Avocado a berry?

A berry, which has a fleshy exocarp (rind) and a fleshy mesocarp (pulp), is any soft and fleshy fruit that comes from a flower with a single ovary. This means avocados, tomatoes, bananas, and oranges are all technically berries.

What fruit is not a berry?

Botanical berries not commonly known as berries include bananas, tomatoes, grapes, eggplants (aubergines), persimmons, watermelons, and pumpkins.

Is an apple a berry?

Pomes. The pome fruits produced by plants in subtribe Pyrinae of family Rosaceae, such as apples and pears, have a structure (the core) in which tough tissue clearly separates the seeds from the outer softer pericarp. Pomes are not berries. However, some of the smaller pomes are sometimes referred to as berries.

Is a kiwi a berry?

The ellipsoidal kiwi fruit is a true berry and has furry brownish green skin. The firm translucent green flesh has numerous edible purple-black seeds embedded around a white centre. The deciduous leaves are borne alternately on long petioles (leaf stems), and young leaves are covered with reddish hairs.

Is a seedless watermelon a berry?

So if a watermelon is a fruit, how come a seedless watermelon doesn’t have seeds, yet is still classified as a fruit? The answer is yes, a seedless watermelon is a fruit.

Is a cherry a berry?

You might be surprised to learn that cherries are not considered berries. Instead, they are botanically considered a drupe and are more similar to peaches and nectarines than berries.