People are just discovering odd fact strawberry fact ‘they never knew’

People are only just discovering a little-known fact about strawberries.

As one of the most popular fruits on the market, almost all of us have enjoyed a strawberry before. Not only do they offer the perfect burst of sweetness when eaten fresh on a summer’s day, but they’re also used to flavour everything from jams to sweets.

In fact, strawberries are so tasty that according to a 2024 YouGov poll, they were rated the #1 most popular fruit in the UK with a popularity of 90%, beating green grapes and red grapes, tangerines, pineapples, and bananas.

Despite their popularity, however, many people are only just finding out one bizarre fact about the beloved fruit.

In a video posted on TikTok, a woman named Gianna shared her shock as she discovered that strawberries are not actually a berry at all – despite it forming a key part of their name.

She said: “I just found that strawberries … straw BERRIES … are not berries.”

Off camera, an unknown man could also be heard sharing his shock at her revelation as he demanded Gianna repeat herself just in case he had misheard her.

And it wasn’t just the two in the video who were baffled, as several commenters on the clip said they also had no idea that strawberries were not actually berries at all.

One person asked: “Then what the heck are they??”

And another added: “I’m speechless. What just happened?”

But Gianna is right – strawberries are not actually berries. And they’re not the only ones either, as raspberries and blackberries are not berries either. To make matters even more confusing, foods such as cucumbers and kiwis are berries.

According to EatWell, berries must have just one ovary, but fruits such as strawberries have more than one ovary, so botanists label them as a pseudocarp or false fruit.

Ginger Hultin, a registered dietician and spokeswoman for the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, told EatWell: “Botanically, strawberries are actually a fruit. The difference is in the way the fruit comes from a single flower that has more than one ovary; for this reason, they’re actually called ‘aggregate fruits’. Berries actually come from one flower with one ovary.”

The one food that we call a berry that actually is a berry is the blueberry, which has one ovary. Alongside blueberries, bananas, avocados, kiwis, and cucumbers are all berries, too.

Ginger added: “A berry is technically a fleshy fruit, but it has to be without a stone – like apricots, plums or peaches – and produced from a single flower with just one ovary.”