A prune is a dried plum, most commonly from the European plum tree. Not all plum species or varieties can be dried into prunes. A prune is the firm-fleshed fruit (plum) of Prunus domestica varieties that have a high soluble solids content, and do not ferment during drying. Use of the term "prune" for fresh plums is obsolete except when applied to varieties of plum grown for drying.
The bell pepper is the fruit of plants in the Grossum Group of the species Capsicum annuum. Cultivars of the plant produce fruits in different colors, including red, yellow, orange, green, white, chocolate, candy cane striped, and purple. Bell peppers are sometimes grouped with less pungent chili varieties as "sweet peppers". While they are botanically fruits—classified as berries—they are commonly used as a vegetable ingredient or side dish. Other varieties of the genus Capsicum are categorized as chili peppers when they are cultivated for their pungency, including some varieties of Capsicum annuum.
The cantaloupe is a type of true melon from the family Cucurbitaceae. Originally, cantaloupe referred only to the non-netted, orange-fleshed melons of Europe, but today may refer to any orange-fleshed melon of the C. melo species, including the netted muskmelon which is called cantaloupe in North America, rockmelon in Australia and New Zealand, and spanspek in Southern Africa. Cantaloupes range in mass from 0.5 to 5 kilograms.
The cucumber is a widely-cultivated creeping vine plant in the family Cucurbitaceae that bears cylindrical to spherical fruits, which are used as culinary vegetables. Considered an annual plant, there are three main types of cucumber—slicing, pickling, and seedless—within which several cultivars have been created. The cucumber originates in Asia extending from India, Nepal, Bangladesh, China, and Northern Thailand, but now grows on most continents, and many different types of cucumber are grown commercially and traded on the global market. In North America, the term wild cucumber refers to plants in the genera Echinocystis and Marah, though the two are not closely related.
A melon is any of various plants of the family Cucurbitaceae with sweet, edible, and fleshy fruit. The word "melon" can refer to either the plant or specifically to the fruit. Botanically, a melon is a kind of berry, specifically a "pepo". The word melon derives from Latin melopepo, which is the latinization of the Greek μηλοπέπων (mēlopepōn), meaning "melon", itself a compound of μῆλον (mēlon), "apple", treefruit " and πέπων (pepōn), amongst others "a kind of gourd or melon". Many different cultivars have been produced, particularly of cantaloupes.
Spaghetti squash or vegetable spaghetti is a group of cultivars of Cucurbita pepo subsp. pepo. They are available in a variety of shapes, sizes, and colours, including ivory, yellow and orange, with orange having the highest amount of carotene. Its center contains many large seeds. When raw, the flesh is solid and similar to other raw squash. When cooked, the meat of the fruit falls away from the flesh in ribbons or strands that look like and can be used as an alternative to spaghetti.
Syzygium samarangense is a species of flowering plant in the family Myrtaceae, native to an area that includes the Greater Sunda Islands, Malay Peninsula, and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, but introduced in prehistoric times to a wider area and now widely cultivated in the tropics. Common names in English include wax apple, Java apple, Semarang rose-apple, and wax jambu.
Cucumis metuliferus, commonly called the African horned cucumber, horned melon, spiked melon, jelly melon, or kiwano, is an annual vine in the cucumber and melon family Cucurbitaceae. Its fruit has horn-like spines, hence the name "horned melon". The ripe fruit has orange skin and lime-green, jelly-like flesh. C. metuliferus is native to Southern Africa, in South Africa, Namibia, Botswana, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, and Angola.
The Bailan melon is a locally famous melon grown near Lanzhou, the capital city of Gansu province in the People's Republic of China. It is a variety of honeydew melon, globose to subglobose and typically has white skin with sweet, white or pale green, flesh. In photographs, the melons appear light yellow, orange or white, with a light green or apricot yellow flesh, which makes it similar in appearance to other types in the cultivar group of true melon. It is also heavy due to the density of the fruit's inner flesh. Like other types of honeydews, the Bailan melon is rich in Vitamin C and protein.
A pumpkin seed, also known in North America as a pepita, is the edible seed of a pumpkin or certain other cultivars of squash. The seeds are typically flat and oval with one axis of symmetry, have a white outer husk, and are light green in color after the husk is removed. Some pumpkin cultivars are huskless, and are grown only for their edible seed. The seeds are nutrient- and calorie-rich, with an especially high content of fat, protein, dietary fiber, and numerous micronutrients. Pumpkin seed can refer either to the hulled kernel or unhulled whole seed, and most commonly refers to the roasted end product used as a snack.
Pouteria sapota, the mamey sapote, is a species of tree native to Mexico and Central America. The tree is also cultivated in the Caribbean. Its fruit is eaten in many Latin American countries. The fruit is made into foods such as milkshakes and ice cream.
The banana pepper is a medium-sized member of the chili pepper family that has a mild, tangy taste. While typically bright yellow, it is possible for them to change to green, red, or orange as they ripen. It is often pickled, stuffed or used as a raw ingredient in foods. It is a cultivar of the species Capsicum annuum. Its flavor is not very hot and, as is the case with most peppers, its heat depends on the maturity of the pepper, with the ripest being sweeter than younger ones.
Winter squash is an annual fruit representing several squash species within the genus Cucurbita. Late-growing, less symmetrical, odd-shaped, rough or warty varieties, small to medium in size, but with long-keeping qualities and hard rinds, are usually called winter squash. They differ from summer squash in that they are harvested and eaten in the mature stage when their seeds within have matured fully and their skin has hardened into a tough rind. At this stage, most varieties of this vegetable can be stored for use during the winter. Winter squash is generally cooked before being eaten, and the skin or rind is not usually eaten as it is with summer squash.
The Santa Claus melon, sometimes known as Christmas melon or Piel de Sapo, is a variety of melon originating in Spain that grows to about a foot in length and is ovoid in shape. It has a thick, green-striped outer rind and pale green to white inner flesh with a mild melon flavour and sweetness close to honeydew melons.
The Canary melon or winter melon is a large, bright-yellow elongated melon with a pale green to white inner flesh.
The sprite melon is a kind of melon, similar to honeydew, which originates from Japan. Since the late 1990s, it has been cultivated in North Carolina as a specialty crop and has increased in popularity in recent years.
Watermelon is a flowering plant species of the Cucurbitaceae family and the name of its edible fruit. A scrambling and trailing vine-like plant, it is a highly cultivated fruit worldwide, with more than 1,000 varieties.
Cucumis melo, also known as melon, is a species of Cucumis that has been developed into many cultivated varieties. The fruit is a pepo. The flesh is either sweet or bland, with or without a musky aroma, and the rind can be smooth, ribbed, wrinkled, or netted. In North America, the sweet-flesh varieties are often collectively called muskmelon, including the musky netted-rind varieties and the inodorous smooth-rind varieties, and cantaloupe usually refers to the former type. However, muskmelon in a narrow sense only refers to the musky netted-rind type, also known as North American cantaloupe, while the true cantaloupe is the European type with ribbed and often warty rind that is seldom grown in North America.
The oriental melon, is a group of Cucumis melo cultivars that are produced in East Asia. Phylogenetic studies tracing the genetic lineage of the plant suggest that it may have originated in eastern India, having then spread to China over the Silk Road, from which it was introduced to Korea and Japan. Its flavour has been described as a cross between a honeydew melon and a cucumber. It is noticeably less sweet than Western varieties of melon, and consists of about 90% water. The fruits are commonly eaten fresh; with its thin rind and small seeds, the melon can be eaten whole.
The kolkhoznitsa melon, also known as the collective farm woman melon, is a melon in the genus Cucumis native to Russia and introduced to the United States in 1993.
