Is Watermelon a Fruit or a Vegetable?
On July 9th, we posed the question “Is Watermelon a Fruit or a Vegetable?” on our Facebook page.
If you’re like me, every summer you grew up eating your weight in watermelon as a summertime snack. And, you probably grew up thinking that watermelon is a fruit. A few weeks ago, I was looking for some fun facts about my home state, Oklahoma. That’s when I saw something puzzling. In 2007, the state of Oklahoma adopted the watermelon as the state vegetable (25 OS § 98.15). Yes, you just read that correctly. Watermelon is the state vegetable of Oklahoma! WHAT!?!?!?!?
When I asked the question on our ministry Facebook page, 88% of participants said watermelon is a fruit. While the other 13% said is a vegetable. It also led to a few comments like these:
“The same question can be asked about a tomato.” ~ Jerry
“It’s a berry, so it’s a fruit.” ~ Markus
“Fruit, it has seeds.” ~ Rachel
And my favorite is from Randall,
“If you don’t spit out the seeds, you may get pregnant.”
If we google the question, “Is watermelon a vegetable?” It immediately comes up with the answer as “Fruit.” But, this has been a debate that has gone on for years according to watermelon.org.
They say “Like the pepper, tomato, and pumpkin, watermelon is a fruit, botanically. It is the fruit of a plant originally from a vine of southern Africa. Loosely considered a type of melon (although not in the genus Cucumis), watermelon has a smooth exterior rind and a juicy, sweet interior flesh.” BUT at the same time say, “Watermelon is a vegetable and is a member of the Cucurbitaceae plant family of gourds (classified as Citrullus Lantus), related to the cucumber, squash, and pumpkin (Maynard, 2001). It is planted from seeds or seedlings, harvested, and then cleared from the field like other vegetables.” The definition of a vegetable, “any plant whose fruit, seeds, roots, tubers, bulbs, stems, leaves, or flower part are used as food.”
When we look at how we eat watermelons, we eat it in salads as a vegetable, and we eat it as a fruit on a hot summer day.
After doing a little more digging, I ran across this article from the HuffPost:
“It all depends on who you ask. If you talk to a botanist, they’ll maintain that watermelon is a fruit because it develops from the plant’s ovary after flowering and holds the seeds. A vegetable is anything eaten from other parts of a plant, like spinach leaves or carrots (which are roots). But if you ask anyone in Oklahoma, they’ll tell you it’s a vegetable. The state even declared the watermelon its official vegetable in 2007.
How did they come to see the watermelon as a veggie?
The watermelon is a member of the cucumber family known as the Cucurbitaceae, which includes gourds as well. They’re grown like vegetable crop using vegetable production systems. And they are generally treated as a vegetable for culinary uses. So even if the watermelon is mostly eaten as a fruit, it got lumped in with vegetables in some circles of thought.” https://www.huffpost.com/entry/watermelon-fruit-and-vegetable_n_57a9e2c6e4b0b770b1a4481f
So if all of this isn’t as clear as mud, we still don’t have a conclusion. I say, let bygones be bygones. It doesn’t matter if watermelon is a fruit or a vegetable. All that matters is if you are eating a good one!
My buddy Josh said, “A better question to ask would be to eat watermelon with salt or without?” Now those are fighting words to some people and maybe a debate for another blog post.
Anyways, we hope you find this article fun. Let us know your thoughts in the comments below, and GO EAT SOME WATERMELON!!!
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