Fact #33
July 3, 2026Bananas Are Berries, Yet Strawberries Aren't
A true berry develops from a single flower with one ovary and has seeds embedded inside the fruit. Bananas meet this definition. Strawberries, however, are accessory fruits, where the juicy red part is not the ovary, and the tiny "seeds" on the outside are actually individual fruits called achenes.
Mini Facts
1
Tomatoes, grapes, eggplants, and even kiwis are also true botanical berries.
2
Raspberries and blackberries aren't true berries either. They're aggregate fruits made from many tiny fruitlets.
3
The average strawberry has about 200 achenes on its surface.
4
Before botanists scientifically classified them, people gave these foods different common names.