mysql and php

I have a db with a simple table. One of the fields in the tables are fruit. I created a HTML SELECT FORM to select what kind of fruit,apples,peaches,ect... I would like to input the kind of fruit into the table. I have even tried using php ifelse statements to assign integers instead of the actual fruit name and I still can't figure it out. Can someone please help. The thing I can't figure out is how to know which of the choices have been selected from the form. thanks