Drupes

any drupes are familiar, even if the botanical classification is not. They’re fruits—including items you might not recognize as fruits—with a three-layer structure: a fleshy or fibrous exterior surrounds a, the edible portion is the flesh, which easily separates from the pit in freestone fruits; clingstone varieties require more excavation. Dense, rich change color as they age, shifting from green to brown, red, purple, and finally black. Young are smooth and crisp like apples; eventually, they shrivel and look and taste more like dates. To access the lychee-like flesh of , peel away their spiky skin. are edible drupe seeds; when their fuzzy green flesh ripens, they split to reveal the hard shell that houses the teardrop-shaped seed. , which grow in clusters like grapes and blush like apricots, mature similarly. Enclosed in a caustic shell that dangles from the bottom of a apple is its eponymous seed. Every red coffee cherry contains two . White meat—part of the plant’s seed—is shredded to make its milk and cream. are aggregates of tiny drupes, often called drupelets.