Nutrition

9 Fun Facts About Fruit And Veg for the Kids

Juice Plus+ May 02, 2020

Our main focus as parents is to get our kids eating the good stuff – encouraging them to eat enough fruit and vegetables to thrive and grow into happy and healthy individuals.

Whilst the taste of broccoli and tomatoes might not be favourites at first, there are some pretty quirky things to know about fruit and veg that might make trying them a little more enjoyable after all…

1. Tomatoes are a fruit

And they are the most popular fruit in the whole world! The confusion about whether it was a fruit or a vegetable arose after the 1890s when the US Supreme Court named them a vegetable for tax reasons.

2. Strawberries are technically not a berry

Weird but true! Berries by definition have their seeds on the inside, whilst strawberries hold their 200 seeds on the outside. The strawberry plant produces a fleshy ‘false fruit’, also known as a ‘pseudocarp’ from its flower. Although essentially all you need to know is, they are still insanely delicious.

3. A pomegranate can hold up to 1000 seeds!

Whilst they are larger than a strawberry, an average sized pomegranate can contain anywhere between 600-1400 seeds or ‘arils’.

4. Potatoes were the first vegetable to be grown in space

In October 1995, NASA and a university in the US collaborated to help grow the ever first veggie in space – a potato!

5. Not all oranges are orange

In subtropical regions, like Brazil, the temperature isn’t cold enough for the skin to turn orange.This means the orange could stay green or yellow, even when it’s ripe!

6. Cranberries can bounce

When they’re ripe, they bounce! Give it a go yourself…

7. The part of broccoli that you eat is actually flowers which haven’t opened yet

And it’s also part of the cabbage family.

8. Pumpkins and cucumber are also classed as a fruit, not a vegetable!

Not to mention olives, avocado, eggplant and capsicum, which are all also fruits!

9. Durian is the smelliest fruit in the world

The fruit grows on the Durio tree and grows in Malaysia, Indonesia and Thailand. Apparently, it smells of rotten eggs, sweaty socks or even garbage. Fancy trying that one?

So, did you learn anything new? Share this article with a friend to blow their mind!