On Food and Cooking

A fruit is a distinct organ that develops from
the flower, and in particular from the flower’s
female tissue, the ovary, which encloses the
plant’s maturing seeds. Most fruits are simply
the thickened ovary wall, or else they
incorporate nearby tissues as well. Apples and
pears, for example, are made up mainly of the
stem tip in which the flower parts are
embedded. The fruit usually develops into
three distinct layers: a thin outer protective
skin, a thin inner protective coat around the
central mass of seeds, and a thick, succulent,
flavorful layer in between.
Fruit goes through four distinct stages of
development. The first is usually fertilization
of the female ovule by male pollen, which
initiates the production of growth-promoting
hormones and so leads to the expansion of the
flower’s ovary wall. Some conveniently
seedless fruits, including bananas, navel
oranges, and some grapes, manage to develop
without fertilization. The second, relatively