How many cells are in fruits?

Do fruit cells continue to reproduce after the fruit drops from the parent tree?

• I would prefer to not have to kill things to survive; but eating animal flesh, grains, nuts, seeds and roots involves killing an organism that might survive, grow and reproduce if I hadn't eaten it. Eating a piece of fruit, like a drupe (stone fruit like an avocado, cherry, peach, etc.) allows the seed to possibly survive. That approaches what I want to do, i.e. be the source of as little violence as I can afford. But eating fruit still involves destroying the pericarp which is made of cells. If the cells are dead already, then I have not killed them. My question is: are the cells of the pericarp dead when the fruit is removed from the tree? Do the cells continue to reproduce? This doesn't settle it for me, as I think the cells still metabolize as demonstrated by the fact that some fruits ripen while off the vine; but it may be a less violent way for me to survive. At any rate, the organism can reproduce and survive.

• Answer:

  Yes, they continue to reproduce... that's what makes new trees! Plants evolved fruits in the first place for the purpose of animals eating them and spreading the seeds. ALL living things consume other living things, be it by eating them or absorbing their nutrients through roots. Every living thing is part of the larger biosphere, and there is no life without death. Have a steak. ... Fruits are composed of one ovary cell. The seed inside is composed of many cells, but the fruit as a whole is one cell, it does not reproduce. Some aggregrate fruits (such as blackberries) are composed of multiple cells, but they do not reproduce off the vine. They will, however, continue to metabolize for a short while after being picked/falling off the plant.