It’s a fruit, not a vegetable. The botanists are clear on this, and so should you be. A fruit is a product of the seed-bearing structure of a flowering plant. A vegetable, on the other hand, is the edible portion of a plant, you know, like leaves, stems, roots, bulbs, and tubers. Pumpkins are flowering plants…you don’t eat the flowers, you eat the seed-bearing bit. That’s the fruit. A pumpkin is a fruit. For that matter, strictly speaking, by definition, a squash is also a fruit. A cucumber is a fruit. Beans, peppers, and tomatoes are fruits. If this makes you unhappy, don’t write to me about it…go find a botanist to bully. (Sidebar: If you do indeed bully a botanist, do write to me about THAT. It sounds amusing.)
pumpkin
