26 July 2023 , 14:24
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You may have heard before that tomatoes aren't actually vegetables, but a fruit, and maybe someone has told you before that bananas are actually berries. So here's another one to add to your list - strawberries aren't actually berries.
And while we're on the subject of berries, it turns out those little yellow specks you can see on the outside of strawberries aren't actually seeds.
Most people who argue that strawberries aren't actually berries say that the reason for this is that they have their seeds on the outside, not the inside. While that's technically true, those things we see on the outside of the strawberries are actually the fruits - and the real seeds lie within those.
This means that the big, red, juicy thing we think of as the fruit - isn't technically a fruit. And this is the even weirder part - the strawberry itself is actually "swollen receptacle tissue".
According to Chris Gunter, associate professor of horticultural science at NC State, this is the part of the plant that connects the flower to the stem.
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Speaking to North State University, he explained that "when a strawberry flower is pollinated, it triggers the receptacle tissue to grow and change".
For it to be a fruit, it would be the flower's ovary that swells and becomes the fruit when it's pollinated - and then the seeds go in inside. But when a strawberry flower is pollinated, the fruit doesn't swell.
Instead, the fertilised ovaries in the flower form separate, small, dry fruits - and these are the things you can see on the outside of the strawberry. The seeds are actually located inside these fruits - one inside each.
Unsurprisingly, people were quite freaked out to find out this knowledge, with one Twitter user saying: "I don't think my brain can handle any more new knowledge today".
Another said: "Oh no... sorry strawberries!," while a third said: "I'm sorry what?"