Popular Science

Is Corn a Fruit, Vegetable, or Grain?

We all know the is-a-tomato-a-fruit debate (the answer is yes, but you still shouldn’t put it in a fruit salad). Now we’d like to bring you a whole new botanical question you never knew you had: Is corn a fruit or a vegetable—or is it a grain? The answer is…complicated. It has to do with…

Published

6 years ago

November 8, 2019

CYBER TECH TV

The answer is…complicated. It has to do with the way foods are categorized and defined.

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25 Comments

Thomas Wepfer

November 8, 2019 at 3:43 pm

I thought it is a grain, because it is a grass.

Reply
- JimPeachley
  
  November 9, 2019 at 2:22 pm
  
  My thinking exactly. It grows and forms identically to other grass grainheads; we just eat it before it hardens. Not much of a debate.
  
  Reply
Shad Frigi

November 8, 2019 at 8:24 pm

“Pumpkins, peas, and peppers are all technically fruits.” What?

Reply
Adam Ed

November 8, 2019 at 8:24 pm

“Pumpkins, peas, and peppers are all technically fruits.” What?

Reply
Shad Ed

November 8, 2019 at 8:24 pm

“Pumpkins, peas, and peppers are all technically fruits.” What?

Reply
BnORailFan

November 8, 2019 at 11:06 pm

I want corn, peas, pumpkins, tomatoes and peppers on my fruit salad!

Reply
A3Kr0n

November 8, 2019 at 11:25 pm

We should call it what the scientists say it is and not perpetuate inaccurate language.

Reply
Brother Nobody

November 9, 2019 at 1:02 pm

so what you’re telling me is, and I’m not really complaining, that cornsilk is basically corn pubes? Interesting…

Reply
BuddyL

November 9, 2019 at 7:07 pm

*ALSO* : the reason ???? looks the way it does is because of – wait for it – genetic modification.

GMOs ???? are *NOT* the problem.
(Monsanto is an evil company, but GMOs are a great science that will feed us all.)

Reply
- Buck Field
  
  November 9, 2019 at 10:01 pm
  
  Perhaps they will, but decades of massive investment to prevent research which would clearly and unequivocally establish their safety seems worth considering, IMO.
  
  Reply
- The Casual Gamer
  
  November 12, 2019 at 10:51 am
  
  Regardless of Monsanto and what they have done. Almost all modern fruits and vegetables today are a GMO. Even the ones they say aren’t. because the selective breading of plants is the beginning of being genetically modified, not just taking a tomato and adding a gene from fish to make it more tolerant to frost. Almonds, those are GMO’s too. They are California’s number 1 export. Almonds are a genetically modified peach designed to have a larger seed and no fleshy sweet fruit. So, next time you are in the grocery store or parroting the produce in an ad and you read anything about something being organic or non GMO, just know its pretty much all bullshit. Organic has to do with how its grown(no pesticides, etc.), and anything identified as a non GMO is false.
  
  Reply
- Buck Field
  
  November 12, 2019 at 8:13 pm
  
  @The Casual Gamer When evidence is presented that the term GMO was used prior to artificial genetic modification accomplished using biotechnology, I will consider such a position to have some small validity.
  
  Until then, this argument seems to be almost exclusively used within false equivalence fallacies in unjustified support of minimizing consideration of risk, as is the case here.
  
  This is not to say that many risk assessments of GMOs are not paranoid or otherwise poorly founded…they certainly have their share of fallacious arguments as well.
  
  Reply
- Daniel Rodriguez
  
  January 12, 2020 at 11:54 pm
  
  You’re right monsato is a criminal organization, they sure are evil ,
  
  Reply
Ankle Donna

November 9, 2019 at 11:51 pm

Some varieties of corn are really good and tasty freshly picked and shucked in the field . . . no cooking required.

Reply
- The Writers Round
  
  July 14, 2020 at 9:02 pm
  
  I’ve heard of Japanese corn being that sweet! Sadly, there is a lectin movement demonizing corn and tomatoes…
  
  Reply
Brian Ticknor

November 11, 2019 at 10:52 pm

Corn is a grain

Reply
The Casual Gamer

November 12, 2019 at 10:33 am

considering I am a agriculture major, I already knew the answer to this question… there are many other fruit/vegetable mixes that can be arguable towards either a fruit or a vegetable. to name a few, artichoke, broccoli and cauliflower. I feel like they should have the basics of what is and is not a fruit/vegetable in the produce departments of grocery stores. teach people a thing or 2 about their food and where it comes from. cuz people here in California, are real dumb when it comes to that stuff…

Reply
- Daniel Rodriguez
  
  January 12, 2020 at 11:57 pm
  
  Lol you’re right about the folks in commiefornia, they are too busy coloring there hair, and wanting to give Illigals there jobs and money and learning to hate Trump
  
  Reply
陈王

November 19, 2019 at 3:52 pm

Can somebody tell me why shouldn’t put tomato in a fruit salad

Reply
Daniel Rodriguez

January 12, 2020 at 11:53 pm

Tomatoes are fruits too,

Reply
BlueWater

February 7, 2020 at 3:01 pm

I asked my friend is a cucumber,tomato,pepper,corn and pumpkin a vegetable he said yes oh and peas

Reply
Just a Guy

April 28, 2020 at 4:26 am

I hate this video

Reply
The Writers Round

July 14, 2020 at 8:59 pm

2:39 (sigh) Pun….
Boooooooooooooooo!!!!

Reply
Michael Castaneda

August 2, 2020 at 6:55 pm

So corn is a fucking fruit lied to all my life

Reply
Krys Cyrus C. Javier

August 24, 2020 at 9:03 am

I love corn some people doesn’t like it idk why

Reply

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