Are Pickles Fruits or Vegetables?
The quick answer to this question is that pickles are vegetables, but there is plenty of evidence to suggest that they can sometimes be considered a fruit.
Pickles are cucumbers that have undergone fermentation in a solution of vinegar, salt, herbs, and spices, so the process of making them means that botanically, they remain cucumbers. Cucumbers are a type of gourd, meaning that they are a type of vegetable, and therefore, pickles are, in general, vegetables and not fruit.
So, Are Pickles Fruit or Vegetable?
In a general sense, pickles are considered as vegetables because of their origin, but they can also be considered as fruit because of their sweet flavor. This means that the answer to the question depends on what angle you are looking at it from. Here are a few more details on why pickles can be seen as both fruits and vegetables:
- Fruit: Cucumbers are classed as fruit due to their seeds, and so by extension, pickles may also be fruit since they are cucumbers.
- Vegetable: Though pickles have a sweet flavor, this is due to the added sugar and vinegar that are combined with the cucumber during the pickling process. Cucumbers are classed as a type of gourd, and they are therefore a vegetable.
When it comes down to it, the answer to the question of whether pickles are considered fruit or vegetables is rather subjective, so it’s hard to come up with a definite answer. Botanically speaking, pickles are cucumbers which are generally classified as vegetables, but because of their ingredients and flavor, you could also consider them to be a type of fruit.
