Is Jalapeno a Fruit or Vegetable? All about Jalapeno

Is Jalapeno a fruit or a vegetable? If you ever wondered if Jalapeno is a fruit or not you have come to the right place to find out!

Usually, people don’t bother to find out whether something they eat is a fruit or vegetable. After all, it’s understood as something sweet must be fruit, and something that isn’t sweet is vegetable. But what if we told you there are some exceptions to this rule. So, is Jalapeno an exception? Is Jalapeno a fruit or a vegetable? Most of us consider it a vegetable as it isn’t sweet, but what if Jalapeno is a fruit? We have all the answers to your query about what Jalapeno is. But first, for those who don’t know, let’s talk about what is Jalapeno!

What is Jalapeno?

Jalapeno peppers are a pod type medium-sized chili pepper cultivar that belongs to the capsicum family. Native to Mexico, this moderately spicy chili pepper is consumed worldwide. Its name is derived from the Mexican city “Jalapa” where it was first cultivated. It hangs down from the plant growing to 2-4 inches in length with 1 to 2 inches thick, round, and firm flesh. It’s green in color but turns red, orange, or yellow when allowed to ripen fully. You can eat it fresh or use it as a spice in many cuisines. From the supermarket aisles, you can have canned sliced or pickled Jalapeno.

Is Jalapeno a Fruit or Vegetable?

Jalapeno is chili, and usually, people have a misconception about chilies that they come under vegetables as they aren’t sweet. You heard it right; we said misconception as it’s not true, and Jalapeno is a fruit. Not only Jalapeno but other chilies such as chili peppers, serranos, and poblanos all come under fruits. But why something that isn’t plumpy like a banana or juicy and tart like an orange comes under fruit?

Why is Jalapeno a Fruit

Although it seems bizarre that Jalapeno is a fruit, you’ll be even more surprised to know that tomatoes, eggplant, zucchini, and okra are all fruits. What’s common in them? All have internal edible seeds in them. Vegetables are the seedless consumable parts of the plants, except for some vegetables having seeds. So to answer your question, taste doesn’t determine whether something is a fruit or vegetable, but seeds do.

Popular Jalapeno Varieties

• Aji Omnicolor
• Black Jalapeno
• Firenza
• Senorita
• Mucho Nacho
• Sierra Fuego
• Mammoth Jalapeno
• Mucho Nacho
• Early Jalapeno
• Biker Billy
• Purple Jalapeno
• Orange Jalapeno

Some Common Names Include

• The Ripe Red Jalapeno or Huachinango
• Fat Chili Pepper or Chile Gordo
• Cuaresmeño
• Smoked Jalapeno Pepper or Chipotle Pepper

Health Benefits of Jalapeno

Raw Jalapeno is 92 percent water and negligible fat, which makes it a perfect addition to the diet. Apart from that, jalapenos are rich sources of vitamin C, vitamin K (Moderate), vitamin A, vitamin E, and vitamin B6. Here are some of the health benefits of jalapenos.

• Jalapenos help in lowering blood pressure. Not just Jalapeno, but other chilies were found to lower the blood pressure, as seen in this study!
• Including jalapenos in the diet reduces appetite and increases metabolism, which in turn promotes weight loss. A study published by NCBI supports this claim.
•  Capsaicin, which is present in Jalapeno and other chili peppers, possesses anti-cancer properties. More human studies need to be done to support this claim.
• Unsupportive to the popular belief capsaicin can reduce the inflammation in the stomach, but that’s not true for other spicy foods. Consumption of Jalapeno can prevent stomach ulcers, as found in this study. Another study that supports this claim is here!
• Common foodborne bacteria and fungi grow at an accelerated rate once the food is allowed to sit at room temp for prolonged hours. Slow down the growth of these food poisoning bacteria and fungi by using Jalapeno as a spice in the food. Compounds found in chilies can even inhibit the deadly foodborne disease caused by cholera bacteria, as we found here.

So to sum it up, Jalapeno is a fruit with many health benefits.