How Many Types of Fruit are There in the World?

They grow on bushes, shrubs and trees. They are small and round like a blueberry or crooked and elongated like a banana. No food group offers as much colorful variety and healthy enjoyment as fruit.

On the definition of fruit

What all fruits have in common is that they are fruits or seeds of perennial plants and have a pleasant taste, usually sweetish or somewhat sour.

The term “fruit” originated from the Middle High German word “obez”, which means “Zukost, Beikost”. At that time, it was customary to eat fruit in the form of compote as a supplement to main dishes.

Today, fresh fruit predominates: every German citizen eats about 100 g of fresh fruit and about 50 g of fruit in processed form every day. The change in preferences is probably due to the fact that quality and taste have now been improved through breeding.

While over centuries new fruit varieties developed from the original wild fruit through chance pollination, fruit breeding has been carried out systematically since the 20th century. To do this, it was necessary to research the genetic and physiological characteristics of fruit varieties.

New cultivars

Based on the knowledge gained, it is now possible to selectively breed new fruit varieties with specific characteristics. Thus, more than 40,000 different fruit varieties have now developed worldwide from several hundred fruit species.

Apples alone comprise around 20,000 varieties. Incidentally, apples are the most popular fruit in Germany, followed by bananas, oranges, clementines, table grapes, peaches and strawberries.

The months of July to October are the main harvesting season in Germany. This is when the variety of fresh fruit is greatest and the taste is at its best. It’s worth grabbing!