Culinary '') in
Bandundu Province,
Democratic Republic of the Congo restaurant, are among the oldest cultivated citrus fruits. Berries, defined loosely, have been valuable as a food source to humans since before the start of agriculture, and remain among the primary food sources of other primates. Botanically defined berries with culinary uses include: • Berries in the strictest sense: including bananas and plantains, blueberries, cranberries, coffee berries, gooseberries, red-, black- and white currants, tomatoes, grapes and peppers (
Capsicum fruits) • Hesperidia: citrus fruits, including oranges, lemons and limes • Pepos: cucurbits, including squashes, cucumbers, melons and watermelons Some berries are brightly coloured, due to
plant pigments such as
anthocyanins and other
flavonoids. These pigments are localized mainly in the outer surface and the
seeds. Such pigments have
antioxidant properties
in vitro, but there is no reliable evidence that they have antioxidant or any other useful functions within the human body. Consequently, it is not permitted to claim that foods containing plant pigments have antioxidant health value on product labels in the United States or Europe. Some
spices are prepared from berries.
Allspice is made from the dried berries of
Pimenta dioica. The fruits (berries) of different
cultivars of
Capsicum annuum are used to make paprika (mildly hot), chili pepper (hot) and cayenne pepper (very hot).
Others Pepos, characterized by a hard outer rind, have also been used as containers by removing the inner flesh and seeds and then drying the remaining exocarp. The English name of
Lagenaria siceraria, "bottle gourd", reflects its use as a liquid container. Some true berries have also been used as a source of
dyes. In
Hawaii, these included berries from a species of
Dianella, used to produce blue, and berries from black nightshade (
Solanum americanum), used to produce green.
History Cucurbit berries or pepos, particularly from
Cucurbita and
Lagenaria, are the earliest plants known to be
domesticated – before 9,000–10,000 BP in the Americas, and probably by 12,000–13,000 BP in Asia. Peppers were domesticated in Mesoamerica by 8,000 BP. Many other early cultivated plants were also berries by the strict botanical definition, including grapes, domesticated by 8,000 BP and known to have been used in wine production by 6,000 BP. Bananas were first domesticated in
Papua New Guinea and
Southeast Asia.
Archaeological and palaeoenvironmental evidence at
Kuk Swamp in the
Western Highlands Province of Papua New Guinea suggests that banana cultivation there goes back to at least 7,000 BP, and possibly to 10,000 BP. The history of cultivated
citrus fruit remains unclear, although some recent research suggests a possible origin in
Papuasia rather than continental southeast Asia. Chinese documents show that
mandarins and
pomelos were established in cultivation there by around 4,200 BP.
Commercial production According to
FAOSTAT data, in 2013 four of the five top fruit crops in terms of world production by weight were botanical berries. The other was a pome (apples). According to FAOSTAT, in 2001, bananas (including plantains) and citrus comprised over 25% by value of the world's exported fruits and vegetables, citrus fruits being more valuable than bananas. Export quantities of fruit are not entirely comparable with production quantities, since slightly different categories are used. The top five fruit exports by weight in 2012 are shown in the table below. Bananas and citrus occupy the top two places. == See also ==