Fruit in the Wizarding World

Fruit, both mundane and magical, serves various functions within the wizarding world. While most commonly appearing as food and drink, much like in the Muggle world, certain fruits are also utilized as key ingredients in Potions and even as components in magical security systems. They are a common sight at feasts, in household orchards, and in the Greenhouses at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

Fruit is a staple food item for wizards and witches, frequently appearing at meals and as a flavouring for popular sweets.

• At Hogwarts: The House-Elves in the Hogwarts kitchens prepare vast quantities of food for the students and staff, including a wide variety of fresh fruit. Pumpkins are particularly notable, being a key ingredient for the ever-present Pumpkin Juice and used for dishes like pumpkin pasties.
• At The Burrow: The Weasley family has an orchard at The Burrow, which includes apple trees. Ron Weasley is sometimes tasked with de-gnoming the garden, which contains these fruit-bearing trees.
• In the Wild: During their hunt for the Horcruxes, Harry Potter and Hermione Granger forage for food, successfully summoning and picking wild blackberries in the Forest of Dean.
• Sweets and Treats: Many popular wizarding sweets are fruit-flavoured. Albus Dumbledore was famously fond of Lemon Drops (Sherbet Lemons in the British editions), which he used as a password to his office.

Beyond simple consumption, specific fruits and depictions of fruit are integrated into the magical workings of the wizarding world.

• As a Password Mechanism: The entrance to the Hogwarts kitchens is concealed behind a magical painting of a bowl of fruit. To gain entry, one must tickle the large green pear in the painting. The pear will squirm, giggle, and then transform into a green doorknob, allowing the door to be opened. This is a unique form of security known to be respected by Hogwarts students, particularly those from Hufflepuff house, whose common room is located on the same corridor.
• As Potion Ingredients: Certain magical plants bear fruit that is essential for potion-making. The most prominent example is the Shrivelfig, a magical fruit resembling a shrivelled purple fig. When skinned, Shrivelfigs are a key ingredient in the Shrinking Solution, a potion that causes things to shrink. These are likely cultivated by Professor Sprout in the Hogwarts Greenhouses.

The following fruits, both mundane and magical, are mentioned in the original novels.

• Mundane Fruits:
  • Apple: Grown in the orchard at The Burrow.
  • Blackberry: Foraged by Harry Potter and Hermione Granger.
  • Cherry: The colour of Gilderoy Lockhart's robes on Valentine's Day was said to be “a shade of shocking pink that made Harry feel slightly sick,” but the blossoms are mentioned as decorations.
  • Grapes: Served at Horace Slughorn's parties.
  • Lemon: The flavour of Dumbledore's favourite Muggle sweet, the Lemon Drop.
  • Orange: Used in Christmas decorations at Hogwarts.
  • Pear: A magical depiction of a pear serves as the secret key to the Hogwarts kitchens.
  • Pumpkin: A versatile staple used for food, drink (Pumpkin Juice), and decoration, especially at Halloween.
• Magical Fruits:
  • Shrivelfig: A key ingredient in the Shrinking Solution. It is a purple, shrivelled fruit from a magical plant.

• In the video game adaptation of Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, as well as later games like Hogwarts Legacy, the fruit bowl painting and the method of tickling the pear to enter the kitchens is a discoverable and interactive feature, allowing the player to access the location as described in the novels (video game).