I think the interviewers want to see the candidate go through a discussion as they attack this problem which has only partial information.  They want to see the method of solving the problem.

For my analysis, I see a list which includes colors, fruits, and 1 vegetable.  I do not see an obvious encoded message related to the number of letters in each word, or the first or last letters of each word.  Matching colors to objects will likely not show an obvious solution since for example, apples can be red or green.  Except for oranges which are always orange.  Looking for one item that stands out as unique I note that only one is a vegetable; but also only one can be considered in two different categories.  

I select orange because it is both a color and a fruit, it is the only item in two different categories.