Are Strawberries Actually Berries?
Nope. Strawberries aren't berries.
But bananas, watermelons, and pumpkins are.
I don't know who put botanists in charge of naming fruit, but clearly, nobody was supervising.
Related Rabbit Holes
So What the Hell Is a Strawberry?
Apparently, being small, sweet, juicy, and having the word berry in your name isn't enough to qualify as a berry.
Botanists have rules.
A true berry develops from a single flower's ovary, with its seeds enclosed inside the fleshy fruit. Grapes qualify. Tomatoes qualify. Even watermelons get in under a special type of berry called a pepo.
But strawberries? Absolutely not.
The red, delicious part isn't even formed from the flower's ovary. It's an enlarged piece of the flower called the receptacle.
And those little specks all over the outside? Those are actually individual fruits.
Yes. A strawberry is covered in tiny fruits.
I'm beginning to suspect the entire produce department is lying to us.
Further Reading