Fruits and vegetables as well as their processed products have become mainstream human dietary choices in recent days, primarily because of several epidemiological studies showing various health benefits associated with the consumption of fruits, vegetables, and their processed products. Fruits and vegetables share several common structural and nutritional properties and also characteristic differences due to differences in their biochemical composition.Fruits, in general, are attractive organs for vectors involved in seed dispersal,and thus have evolved features such as enhanced color, attractive flavor, and taste. Consequently,the developmental and biochemical processes within a fruit are programmed to achieve this goal. The term vegetables is more or less arbitrary, comprising products such as leaves,petioles, stems, roots, tubers, and fruits of cucurbits (e.g., gourds, melons, squash, and pumpkin) and Solanaceae members (e.g., tomato and eggplant). Morphologically, fruits develop from the ovary, the seed-bearing structure in plants. The developmental processes in fruits are influenced by fertilization, and the hormonal changes induced in the ovary leads to gene expression and biochemical changes resulting in the characteristic fruit that may vary in ontogeny, form, structure, and quality. Fruits originate from different parts of the ovary. Pome fruits such as apple and pear develop from the thalamus of the flower. In drupe fruits such as cherries, peaches, plums, and apricots, the ovary wall (mesocarp) develops into the fruit enclosing a single seed. Berry fruits, such as tomato and grape, possess the seeds embedded in a jellylike pectinaceous matrix, with the ovary wall developing into the flesh of the fruit. Citrus fruits belong to the class known as hesperidium, where the ovary wall develops as a protective structure surrounding the juice-filled locules that are the edible part of the fruit. In strawberry, the seeds are located outside the fruit, and it is the receptacle of the ovary (central portion) that develops into the edible part. Most vegetables are leaves, petioles, or stems containing chlorophyll, or roots, tubers, or fruits that predominantly contain storage components such as starch. Examples include potato and eggplant (Solanaceae),gourds Cucurbitaceae), several types of yams (Dioscoreaceae and Araceae), vegetables of leaf and flower origin (cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower—Cruciferae), and unripe fruits of leguminous plants such as peas and beans (Leguminosae). The nutritional and food qualities of fruits and vegetables arise as a result of the accumulation of components derived from the intricate biochemical pathways