Sure, it’s wonderful that most of us don’t have to grow every single thing we eat, but there’s also a catch: Sometimes, we don’t even have a sense of how certain foods grow! For instance, do pineapples grow on trees? Are there any fruits that grow underground? How do we get common spices like cinnamon, cloves, turmeric, and even pepper? Check out our list of amazing foods that grow in weird ways and get a new appreciation for the wonders at your local grocery store!

Common Food That Grows on Trees That Seems Like it Shouldn’t

What food grows on trees that doesn’t seem like it would? Here are a few unusual examples:

Avocado grows on trees and is actually a berry.

grows on trees and is actually a berry. Cloves , which are made from flower buds, come from a tree.

, which are made from flower buds, come from a tree. Chocolate, or more specifically the cacao fruit, grows on a tree.

or more specifically the cacao fruit, grows on a tree. Coffee comes from coffee berries that grow on trees.

comes from coffee berries that grow on trees. Cinnamon is from the interior bark of some odd-looking trees.

is from the interior bark of some odd-looking trees. Many types of nuts come from trees, like almonds, the weird-looking cashew plant fruit, pistachios, and pine nuts that come from pine cones.

Weird Fruit That Doesn’t Grow on Trees That Seems Like it Should

Here are some odd secrets of these weird fruits and vegetables:

What food grows underground? One example is peanuts, which are not a nut at all but a legume that burrows into the dirt.

which are not a nut at all but a legume that burrows into the dirt. How do pineapples grow? Not on pine trees, that’s for sure! Pineapples are a multiple fruit that sprouts from the top of this herbaceous perennial.

grow? Not on pine trees, that’s for sure! Pineapples are a multiple fruit that sprouts from the top of this herbaceous perennial. They might be berries, but they don’t come from a tree: Cranberries come from shrubs and are frequently submerged under water.

come from shrubs and are frequently submerged under water. Vanilla is commonly used colloquially to describe something that’s bland or typical, but there’s nothing “vanilla” about this beautiful orchid.

Check out these culinary oddities and learn more about where your food comes from!

Information sources:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_food_origins

http://www2.nau.edu/lrm22/lessons/plant_origins/plant_origins.html

http://theseedsite.co.uk/fruits.html

https://www.fairchildgarden.org/portals/0/docs/education/downloadable_teaching_modules/flower%20power/fruit_classification1.pdf

Photo sources:

“Twin Cashews” by Abhishek Jacob (Flickr)

“Capparis spinosa flower.jpg” by Wouter Hagens (Wikimedia.org)

“Pineapple Plant” by Daniel Ramirez (Flickr)

“Cinnamon Trees” by daryl_mitchell (Flickr)

“Hops-1.jpg” by Visitor7 (wikimedia.org)

“Cicer arietinum” by Dinesh Valke (Flickr)

“Peanut 9417.jpg” by Pollinator (Wikimedia.org)

“Citrus limon flower.jpg” by Paulu (Wikimedia.org)

“Coffea arabica 5.jpg” by Vengolis (Wikimedia.org)

“Saffron8.jpg” by Serpico (Wikimedia.org)

“Black Pepper (Piper nigrum) fruits.jpg” by K Hari Krishnan (Wikimedia.org)

“Persea americana jpg..JPG” by M. Clara Salviano (Wikimedia.org)

“Pinus pinea (Stone Pine) – cone” by S. Rae (Flickr)

“Sesamum indicum 04.JPG” by Vinayaraj (Wikimedia.org)

“Wasabia japonica 4.JPG” by Qwert1234 (Wikimedia.org)

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