Composition and classification of Fruits and Vegetables - FOODZAQ

Hello friends, Welcome back to my blog FOODZAQ. Today we are discuss about Fruits and Vegetables. A fruit is a edible and more or less juicy product of a tree or plant. It consist of a matured ovary including its seeds and adjacent areas. Usually fruits are seen with wide range of flavors, colors and texture. Vegetables are plant or plant part served with main dishes of meal.

CLASSIFICATION OF FRUITS

Fruits are classified into various groups depending upon their shape, cell structure, types of seeds and natural habitat.

1. Berries

The fruit coat (pericarp) of berries are pulpous and juicy & contain seeds, which is embedded in pulp mass. The fruit have fragile cell structure, that is damaged by rough handling or freezing.

• Favorable in cold climate 
• Contain high amount of acids (Malic, benzoic and citric acid)
• High in pectin content, due to this reason it widely used for jam or jelly preparation.

Examples : Strawberry, black berry and blue berry.

2. Citrus Fruits

This Fruit belongs to genus citrus, which contain different aromatic shrubs and trees mostly with thorny branches. 

• High sugar content
• Richness of Vitamin C
• Have high pectin content in the white portions of their skin

Examples : Sweet oranges, sour oranges, lime and lc emon.

3. Drupes

Drupes are the edible fruit with a thin skin and juicy flesh enclosing a single seed (stone).

Examples : Sweet cherry, plums, peach and apricot. 

4. Grapes

Grapes are rich in sugar, the mature fruits contain glucose and fructose and only small amount of sucrose are found. grapes are low in pectin and protein content. The principle acids in the grapes are tartaric and malic acids.

• The various colors of grapes are due to pigments of the skin.
• The green color of grape is due to chlorophyll, which is faded on ripening. The red, blue, purple and black color is due to Anthocyanin. 

5. Melons

Melons belongs to the family of cucumber, melons are commonly eaten as raw.

Examples : Melon, water melon.

6. Pomes

Pomes are the fruits of apple and pear trees. 

Receptacle : Receptacle surrounds the ovaries in the flower, enlarge to become edible & juicy and enclose the cells containing the seed.

Examples : Apple, pears

7. Tropical and sub tropical fruits

Apart from fruits belong to different groups discussed above, there are a number of other fruits of tropical and sub tropical origin. Many of them are native to tropical America and some to India and other tropical regions.

Examples : Banana, avocado, dates, jackfruits, mango, pineapple.

8. Other fruits

Examples : Figs, kiwis, wood apple.

9. Climatic and Non climatic fruits

Climatic : Mango, banana, jack fruits

Non climatic : Grapes

COMPOSITION OF FRUITS

1. Water

• Fruits contain high range of water.
• water range between 80-90%.
• Water melons have highest water percentage (95.8%).
• Dates have lowest water percentage (15%).

2. Protein

• Have only small amount of protein (0.5-1.5%).
• Water melon have lowest percentage of protein (0.2%).
• Dates have highest protein content (2.5%).

3. Fat

• Contain low percentage of fat (below 0.5%).
• Exception : Avocado (22.8%)

4. Carbohydrates

• Various sugars are found in fruits, whose content various in different fruits.
• The poly saccharides, cellulose, hemi cellulose and pectin substances are found in fruits.
• This  makes fruits important source of dietary fibres (Normal % = 20%, Exception - Dates = 75%)

5. Organic Acids

Fruits contain some free organic acids like malic acid, citric acid, tartaric acid and oxalic acid.

6. Vitamins

• Fruits are good source of vitamins (Vitamin C).
• Some fruits are valuable source of vitamin c (ascorbic acid)
• Fruits are also contain Vitamin A (yellowish colored fruit)

7. Minerals

• S, P, Fe and to a certain extend Ca are found in many fresh fruits.

8. Pigments

• Carotenoids : yellow to orange
• Anthocyanin : Red, purple to blue
• Chlorophyll : green color
• Combination of above 3 pigments.

9. Flavoring compounds  

• Many aldehydes, ketones, esters, phenolic compounds present in fruits are contribute flavor.

CLASSIFICATION OF VEGETABLES

Vegetables are classified into different categories on the basis of the plant part consumed such as root, stem, leaves and stem.

1. Cole Crops

The vegetables of this group belongs to the genus Brassica. They grow best in cool, moist condition. They are grow in winter. It may be flower, fruits or inflorescence.

Examples : Cabbage, cauliflower, kale.

2. Root Vegetables

Root vegetables belongs to different families, but their cultural requirements are similar. They grow best in cold season, but some times especially the radish are tolerant to high temperature.

Examples : Carrot, radish, beetroot and turnip.

3. Fruit Vegetables

Examples : Tomato, bell pepper and egg plant. ladies finger.

4. Cucurbits

This are the fruit vegetables, belongs to family cucurbitaceous. They can be grow on sandy soils and require plenty of water.

Examples : Cucumber, pumpkin, ash cord, snake cord and bitter cord.

5. Leafy Vegetables

They are nutritionally very important and are rich in vitamins and minerals.

Examples : Amaranths, lettuce

6. Tuber vegetables

They are rich in carbohydrates

Examples : Potato, sweet potato and tapioca.

7. Bulbs

Examples : Onion and Garlic.

8. Other Vegetables

Leguminous vegetables like peas and beans. 

COMPOSITION OF VEGETABLES

Vegetables differ widely in their chemical composition. The main chemical compounds are present in vegetables are the following.

1. Water

• Contain 80-90% in almost vegetables.
• Water content is low in tubers (Tapioca, potato, and yams).
• Water content is high in cucurbits (Cucumber and ash bord)

2. Carbohydrates

• The carbohydrates present in vegetables are cellulose, hemicellulose, peptic substance, starches and sugars.
• Contain 5-20%
• High in tubers and low in cucurbits.

3. Protein

• Contain 1-3%.
• High in leguminous vegetables such as pea and beans.

4. Fat

• Very low percentage (Below 1%).

5. Vitamins

• Vegetables contain vitamin A, vitamin C and some B complex vitamins (Vitamin B1 and Vitamin B2)

6. Minerals

• Calcium and iron rich especially in green leaf vegetables.

7. Acids

• Forming citric, tartaric and succinic are the major ones found in vegetables
• Most of the vegetables have PH range between 5-5.6. 

Guys, Thank you for reading my blog. I hopes you should understands about classification and composition of fruits & vegetables. If you have any doubts or suggestions please feel free to comment below. If you like my blogs, you can also read my previous blogs on food science and composition. Thank you again. Have a great day.