What are Fruits?

Fruits are the fleshy covering around the seed of plants. They can be divided into several groups:

1. Seed fruits such as apples, pears, quinces and olives.
2. Stone fruits such as peaches, nectarines, plums, cherries, apricots, lychees, longan, rambutan, avocado.
3. Berries such as raspberries, loganberries, blackberries, gooseberries, red, black and white currants, blueberries, cranberries and strawberries.
4. Vine fruits such as grapes, kiwi fruit, passionfruit and a variety of melons such as honeydew, cantaloupe (rockmelon)
5. Citrus fruits such as oranges, lemons, grapefruit, mandarins, tangelos, limes and cumquats
6. Tropical and subtropical fruits such as mangoes, bananas, pomegranate, pineapple and persimmon and smaller fruits such as figs, dates, feijoas, tamarillo.

Fruits are available raw, canned in syrup or juice, stewed, dried, frozen or crystallised. They are prepared and eaten in many ways:

• Raw, baked, stewed, microwaved and fried
• Added to salads, cakes, breads, biscuits, pies , chutneys, pickles and sauces

Fruits are considered to be very nutritent dense. Nutrient-dense foods have a high nutrient/calorie ratio. Meaning they are rich in nutrients when compared to their calorie content.

• Raw fruits are:

1. Low in fat(except for avocados and olives)
2. High in fibre
3. Rich in non-nutrients such as many different antioxidants that keep the cell wall strong in the body.

• Most fresh fruits contain vitamin C, particularly citrus and berry fruits.
• Pawpaw, rockmelon, banana, passionfruit and pineapple are also good sources of vitamin C.
• Apricots, mangoes and rockmelons are rich in vitamin A.
• Some are source of iron (dried fruits), calcium (dried figs), phosphorus (banana and dried figs) potassium (dried fruits) and magnesium (bananas).
• They are also high in carbohydrates, which in ripe fruit is mainly sugars. This makes them sweet when compared to vegetables, which contain mainly starchy carbohydrates.

• A wide variety of fruits each week
• No more than 1 serve dried fruit per day as dried fruit may contribute towards tooth decay.
• Choosing fruit more often than fruit juice as it is higher in fibre.
• Eating the skin where possible as it is a source of fibre.

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