Friday, June 20, 2008

Fruit Group

In terms of food (rather than botany), fruits are the sweet-tasting seed bearing parts of plants, or occasionally sweet parts of plants which do not bear seeds.
These include apples, oranges, plums, and bananas, etc. Fruits are low in calories and fat and are a source of natural sugars, fibre and vitamins. Processing fruits when canning or making into juices unfortunately often adds sugars and removes nutrients; therefore fresh fruit or canned fruit packed in juice rather than syrup is recommended[citation needed]. The fruit food group is sometimes combined with the vegetable food group. It is best to consume 2-4 servings of fruit in a day. They may be fresh, frozen, canned, dried, or made into juice.
Note that many foods that are considered fruits in botany because they bear seeds are not considered fruits in cuisine because they lack the characteristic sweet taste.

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