On the Consumption of Fruit Exteriors

By Parker Adey

This past summer, I came to the realization that it is entirely possible to consume an entire apple.

Previously, my habit was to ~~discard the core~~ and only eat the fleshy part. I experimented with this new approach several times, though I initially felt some hesitation regarding the stem. On one occasion, I consumed everything except the stem, which I carried around for a period of time. Eventually, I felt ridiculous holding onto a tiny piece of plant matter, so I simply ate the stem as well.

Expanding the Edibility Horizon

My curiosity didn't stop with apples. A few years prior, I had discovered that strawberry stems are actually edible. As I began investigating these dietary habits, I uncovered further facts:

Kiwi skins $\rightarrow$ Edible.
Apple cores $\rightarrow$ Edible.
Strawberry stems $\rightarrow$ Edible.

Edibility Checklist

Fruit Image

The Fallacy of Animal Diet Logic

I encountered an argument suggesting that because deer eat certain things, it isn't a significant risk for humans to do the same during normal apple consumption.

"This line of reasoning is completely absurd."

The logic can be represented mathematically as a false equivalence: $\text{Animal eats } X \nRightarrow \text{Human can safely eat } X$

To visualize this flawed logic:

The Case of the Horse Chestnut

This reminded me of a conversation with a friend who posited that horse chestnuts should be safe for human consumption, based on the assumption that horses eat them.

I pondered this and offered a counter-theory: Maybe they are used to induce vomiting in horses.

After performing a quick search, I found the actual data:

Subject	Reaction to Horse Chestnuts
Humans	Get sick
Horses	Get sick
Deer	Can eat them safely

I simulated my search process like this:

curl -X GET "https://www.google.com/search?q=are+horse+chestnuts+toxic+to+horses"
# Result: Toxic to horses and humans; safe for deer.

Published: Aug 30, 2026 @ 15:32 Tags: #random #food

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