Is an onion a fruit or a vegetable? In this article, we will explore the definitions of fruits and vegetables, the characteristics of onions, and the reasons why onions are often mistaken for fruits.
A staple in many food recipes, Onions are used so often in our everyday lives. With onions, bland dishes are given life and flavor. Although it may be a hassle sometimes to cut them, it is still essential to have onions in our dishes.
However, even if it is so common in everyone’s lives, there is still quite a confusion about what onions are.
This is still a question that many people do not have the answer to.
“Is onion a fruit or a vegetable?”
Let’s find out!
WHAT MAKES A VEGETABLE, A VEGETABLE?
So, before we start determining if onions are fruits or vegetables, let us first know how vegetables are classified as vegetables.
Vegetables are any part of a plant that is edible. That means they can be roots, stems, flowers, leaves, or even tubers or bulbs.
In basic terms, a vegetable is any of the edible parts of the plant, except for the fruit of course.
This means that vegetables are not seed holders like fruits.
Furthermore, the common definition of vegetables can reflect how it is served. People often refer to vegetables as the plant parts that are served with meats, poultry, or fish.
WHAT IS THE DEFINITION OF FRUIT?
Speaking of fruits, let’s head over to the definition of fruit.
In botany, fruits are a structure in flowering plants that bear seeds. They are formed from the mature ovary of a plant.
Fruits are also often defined as the sweet and fleshy reproductive bodies of a seed plant.
IS ONION A ROOT?
Before answering the age-old question of whether onions are fruits or vegetables, let’s first clarify if an onion is a root.
A root vegetable is a plant part that grows underground. These vegetables store nutrients and are eaten raw by humans as food.
Some examples are carrots, beets, potatoes, and ginger.
So, are onions a root vegetable?
The answer is both yes and no.
In botany, they distinguish true roots like tuberous roots from the non-roots such as tubers and bulbs. Since an onion is a bulb, it falls under the category of non-root. Onions grow above the ground and not underground, which means they aren’t technically true roots.
In culinary and agricultural settings, however, onions are considered root vegetables since they do not distinguish the true roots from the non-roots.
IS ONION A FRUIT?
Here’s the moment you’ve been waiting for! So, is an onion a fruit?
The answer? Nope, onions are not a fruit!
Based on the definition of what a fruit is, onions are not classified as a fruit.
Earlier, we defined fruits as seed-bearing structures in flowering plants. Onion bulbs do not come from the plant’s ovaries, which means they do not include seeds. Onions also do not form directly from a flower. Therefore, onions cannot be classified as a fruit.
WHY DO PEOPLE MISTAKE ONION FOR FRUIT?
Now that we have answered your initial question, let us head over to a new one.
Why do people mistake onions for fruit?
Some assume that onions are fruits since onion bulbs can be planted to produce more plants. Even if this is true, onions still cannot be classified as a fruit.
Onion bulbs can be grown and reproduced using their bulbs. This means that onion bulbs can reproduce asexually, which is a trait that fruits have with their seeds. However, onions still do not have seeds in them, and they only can be reproduced using their bulbs. This means that onions cannot be classified as a fruit since they do not have seeds.
Some people may also think that onions are fruits because they resemble the body of many fruits. But onions are the onion plant’s underground bulbs, which clarifies that they are not a fruit.
ARE ONIONS VEGETABLES?
Since we found out earlier that onions are not fruits, we can safely assume that onions are really vegetables.
It might’ve been obvious since onions are savory instead of having a sweet flavor like fruits, but there is a deeper reason why onions are classified as vegetables.
Onions fit the basic profile of a vegetable, which means…
Yes, onions are vegetables.
WHAT MAKES ONIONS VEGETABLES?
Onions are vegetables because they are the edible bulb of the onion plant.
Vegetables were defined earlier as the edible portions of a plant, which include the bulb.
An onion is a bulb that springs up from plant species in the genus Allium, which falls under the category of bulb vegetables. These vegetables are usually not eaten by themselves, as they are used in conjunction with other ingredients to make a meal and enhance the flavor of food.
And even if onions share some similarities with other fruits, it is still considered a vegetable since it does not come from the plant’s ovaries when flowering, and onions do not contain any seeds.
IS AN ONION A BULB?
With bulbs mentioned earlier, you must wonder if an onion is a bulb.
Using the information, we have gathered earlier, we can conclude that onion has a bulb, but cannot be solely classified as a bulb.
The onion is a bulbous plant that grows from a small seed to produce a large, edible bulb.
Onions are also a combination of stem and scale leaves. Furthermore, the stem of the onion is disc-shaped, and it is an underground alteration of the stem. This falls under the classification of a bulb.
This means that the fleshy edible part of an onion that grows underground is a bulb.
However, with the fact that the whole plant is edible, we cannot classify onions as bulbs only. We can classify onions as vegetables instead.
WHERE DO ONION SEEDS COME FROM?
In the bulb section, we have briefly mentioned the existence of onion seeds.
So where do these seeds come from?
These seeds develop from the flower part of the onion part. However, onion seeds are actually pretty rare, as the flower of the onion plant only produces seeds every two years.
The produced onion seeds come from the fertilization that happens on the flower…
However, onions do not grow from the flowering plant but instead from the seeds that they have.
There’s no need to worry about an onion shortage though, as onions can be grown from a bulb that carries no seeds.
Also check : How to plant an onion that has sprouted?
Also check : What Grows Well With Onions?
Also check : How Long Do Bunching Onions Take To Grow?
Also check : How to know when onions are ready to harvest?
CONCLUSION
To sum it all up, onions are not fruits since they do not consist of seeds. Onions are vegetables, both based on the scientific and common definitions of vegetables.
Onions can be classified as root vegetables from culinary and agricultural settings, but it is not true root vegetable for botanists.
Onions have bulbs but cannot be classified as a bulb only, and their seeds come from their flowers.
There you have it, your questions regarding onions are now answered.
Onions being mislabeled may have little effect in the kitchen, but still knowing about their classification might come in handy the next time someone asks if onions are fruits or vegetables.
