Punnet

For the genetics diagram, see Punnett square.

Empty punnets

A punnet is a small box for the gathering and sale of fruit and vegetables, typically small berries. The word is largely confined to Commonwealth countries (but not Canada) and is of uncertain origin, but is thought to be a diminutive of "pun", a British dialect word for pound, from the days in which such containers were used as a unit of measurement. The British Dictionary of National Biography, parenthetically in its entry for geneticist R.C. Punnett (1875–1967), credits "a strawberry growing ancestor [who] devised the wooden basket known as a ‘punnet’".

Description

Strawberries were sold in pottles; conical woodchip baskets, and these were replaced by the more practical rectangular shape. A 1903 work describes their construction;

"Strawberry punnets or baskets as used by fruiterers are made of thin strips of wood, well soaked before use. The bottom and uprights are comprised of six pieces of 1/16” wood; the bottom and side pieces may be of ash and the lacings, which are 1/32” thick and 1” wide, may be of pine."

Contemporary punnets are made of plastic and increasingly moulded pulp and corrugated fiberboard are being used as they are perceived to be more sustainable materials. Decorative punnets are often made of felt and seen in flower and craft arrangements.