In this day and age, it’s often a long journey from field to table for the food we eat. Never before in history, have we had access to food from around the world. With amazing preservation abilities and quick transport, we can eat pineapples in Minnesota during the cold months of January — even if they’re from a can.
But being so far removed from our food, most of us have no idea what it looks like while growing. You might be surprised to realize that pineapples grow on individual stalks. Or that mustard starts out as a beautiful yellow flower. Even your morning cup of coffee started out as a cluster of bright red berries.
Let’s face it — most of us don’t stop to think about where our food comes from. For most of us, we just assume it grows the way we’ve always imagined. You probably think bananas grow on trees, right? They actually grow on enormous herbs covered in purple flowers. Chestnuts come out of spine-covered pods and peanuts are the roots of flowers.
There’s an entire wide world of crazy food out there. Here are 65 types of food that don’t grow the way you think.
1. Pineapples
These come from crazy spikey looking bushes that grow out of the ground. The fruit comes from the middle of the plant.
Brussel sprouts are a member of the Germmifera group of cabbages and grow from a leafy green plant that is about 2.5 to 4 cm in diameter. They grow in a cluster and look like little cabbages.
Pistachios grow in clusters on trees. It usually takes seven to ten years for these trees to get significant production with peak production being reached around 20 years. The pistachios are then dried and dry roasted or processed in machines. They kind of look like mangoes.
Peanuts look like pretty little yellow wildflowers when they grow out of the ground but when you pull those flowers up their roots reveal the little bulbous nuts.
Kiwis also start out as flowers that hang on a vine and grow along trellises. The flower turns into kiwis that hang down until they are ready to be harvested.
Saffron comes from exquisitely beautiful bright purple flowers. The saffron stems come out of the middle of the flowers that are just pulled out of the flower.
While people think of coffee as starting out as beans, they’re really more of a cherry. These bright-colored fruits are packed with a caffeine punch that helps us all start our morning In their natural state, you’d hardly recognize them.
You probably didn’t know that bananas don’t grow on trees. Instead, they grow on enormous herbs that can reach 30 feet tall. These herbs bloom with purple flowers that conceal huge bunches of bananas. As they grow, they’re always stem-side down.
Quinoa is quickly becoming a popular and healthy alternative to other grains. It grows on a large stalk that resembles a flower. After shaking the seeds loose, they’re rinsed to remove a natural bitterness.
Pomegranate trees look spindly, but before the harvest, their branches grow heavy with delicious fruit. You don’t want to water them too much or they’ll become diseased. Instead, they prefer dry soil.
We’re used to seeing nutmeg in a small container at the grocery store. People typically buy it finely ground, perfect for sprinkling on Christmas cookies. But in its original form, nutmeg looks more like a fruit or flower.
A lot of vegetables grow on bushes or trees, but not asparagus — this veggie sprouts straight up from the ground in individual stalks. It can take between two and three years for an asparagus plant to mature. At that point, you can expect a daily harvest.
Mango grows on trees in enormous clusters — but if you walked by before they change color, you probably wouldn’t recognize them. A good part of the growing cycle, they’re dark green. But when ready to pick, they change to a familiar yellow.
Starfruit isn’t widely known across the United States, but you can find it in some grocery stores. It grows in clusters on a small bush. You can even grow this fruit in a pot.
Dates are delicious and great for baking. The palm trees on which they grow can reach up to 75 feet tall. Their sheer height, as well as the warm climate that helps them flourish, makes them challenging to harvest.
It’s not a secret that tea is a leaf. But herbal tea, such as camellia, is a mix of many different herbs and spices. This popular blend comes from this flowering tree.
Dragonfruit is a lesser-known fruit but it’s enjoyed for its vivid pink skin and creamy taste. If you wouldn’t recognize it in the store, you definitely wouldn’t know what it looks like on a tree. Dragonfruit hangs low amid strange, super-long leaves.
Zucchini is a popular side dish. Most of us have seen those thick, waxy vegetables at the grocery store. But you might not know they sprout low to the ground as part of a large bush, complete with bright yellow flowers.
You’ve heard the expression “two peas in a pod,” but did you know that some beans also grow in pods? That’s the case with kidney beans, you know, the type you add to chili. These beans come in small clusters inside of long, dry pods.
It’s not surprising to see that persimmon grows on trees, but it’s not what most of us would envision. The branches are quite thick. Given their resemblance to tomatoes, you’d think they grew on vines.
We know cloves as a small, fragrant spice used in baking or as flavoring warm drinks. But they’re actually the buds of a flowering tree, which are harvested and dried.
Lentils are packed with protein and popular with vegetarians and meat-eaters alike. But if you stumbled across them growing in the wild, you might not recognize them. From afar, they look like tall grass full of tiny pods.
Chickpeas aren’t very tasty by themselves but when blended with the right spices, they turn into delicious hummus. However, they start out looking quite funny inside of fuzzy green pods.
Kids often refer to broccoli as trees, but the part of this veggie we eat is a flower. The whole broccoli plant looks like a large shrub with the vegetable we’re familiar with growing in the middle.
Walnuts look strange even once they’re harvested. But they look even stranger on the tree. Despite their hard shell, they have yet another layer on top of that.
You probably know avocados grow on trees, especially if you’ve lived in favorable growing climates. Avocado trees can get huge — as much as 30 feet tall. For that reason, the fruit has to be pulled down with special poles.
If you’ve ever gone blueberry-picking — or read classics like “Blueberries for Sal” — you know this fruit grows on bushes. But you might not know those bushes can reach up to 12 feet tall or that blueberries start out as little white flowers.
Arugula is considered a fancy part of gourmet salads. So, it might surprise you to see how it grows. It looks a lot like a common weed or patch of undergrowth. But hey, it’s still pretty tasty.
Okra isn’t everyone’s favorite vegetable, but you’ve probably seen it either fresh or pickled in the grocery store. While the green pods are relatively easy to recognize, you might not know they grow alongside brilliant yellow flowers.
If you’ve ever wondered how leeks grow, you probably didn’t imagine them looking like this. The trees have a strange appearance…like lollipops sticking straight into the soil. Certainly not what you’d think of for a vegetable.
You’d never know the pepper we sprinkle on our food starts out looking like a bunch of tiny grapes. But once those “grapes” dry, they start to resemble the black peppercorns we’re more familiar with.
Poppy seeds come from the opium poppy flower, which also provides us with painkillers like morphine. But don’t worry — by themselves, the seeds yield a nutty flavor and nothing more.
This strange root isn’t recognized as the spicy spread we associate with sushi. But that’s where it starts from long before it’s turned into a bright green paste.
Everyone’s seen mustard before, usually in a bottle on a shelf in the fridge. But mustard as we know it comes from the seeds of the mustard flower, which is as bright yellow as the condiment we eat.
Garlic is a complex plant with many edible parts. The part we think of as “garlic” — the clove — is the root of the plant. But it also has beautiful flowers that smell just as fragrant.
If you were to walk by a crop of sweet potatoes, you might not notice them from the surface. The potatoes themselves, of course, grow below the ground. Above the soil, they look like brightly-colored bushes.
We see a little bit of how celery starts to sprout when picking up a bundle at the grocery store. But it turns out that’s only a tiny portion of the entire plant since c Celery grows in a giant bush.
You might think eggplant grows on trees, but instead, it’s harvested from low, squatty bushes. Its status as a low-growing fruit has earned eggplant the classification of a berry.
Most of us know olives grow on trees, but you probably don’t know what they look like. Rather than growing in clusters, each olive has an individual branch. As for the tree, it looks like something straight out of a horror movie.
You probably don’t associate the flavorful spice paprika with peppers. But that’s where it comes from. The peppers are closely related to bell peppers, which are dried and ground for consumption.
Turmeric is a spice known for its bright yellow pigment and strong flavor. There’s a good chance you’ve consumed it before without realizing it. This starts out as a knobby root that looks similar to ginger.
Papaya grows on trees in enormous clusters, similar to the way bananas do. They start out green before turning to a bright pink or yellow. Considering how heavy the fruit is, the trees are fairly thin.
This one might be a little more familiar to some of us. But for others, it comes as a surprise to learn that cucumbers grow hanging from vines. You’d think they grow in the ground, considering their resemblance to root vegetables.
Sichuan or Szechuan comes from a tiny, bright peppercorn that looks like a berry. You shouldn’t eat these berries as is. If you popped one in your mouth, you might be surprised by the heat.
[/slidesCardamom is a fragrant spice mixture often used in baking. Sometimes, it’s referred to as the Queen of the Spices. Before it’s harvested, cardamon grows on a tree in clusters of small green berries.how]
54. Cardamom
Cardamom is a fragrant spice mixture often used in baking. Sometimes, it’s referred to as the Queen of the Spices. Before it’s harvested, cardamon grows on a tree in clusters of small green berries.
Star anise is another fragrant spice. But this one tastes a lot like mild licorice. Believe it or not, it’s a fruit that comes from a flowering tree related to the magnolia.
Lychee isn’t a common sight in the United States, but you’ve probably heard of it. Lychee grows in clusters on branches similar to overly large cherries.
Chives, which are related to onions, have a similar sharp flavor. But in nature, they bloom with beautiful purple flowers. Just don’t smell them — their scent isn’t exactly sweet.
You’re probably used to seeing horseradish in the form of a paste. So, you might not recognize it as a natural plant. Its broad, shiny leaves look a lot like spinach.
Most of us see ginger in powder form in our spice cabinets. But it starts out as a root that looks kind of like a regular tree branch — or maybe an oddly-shaped potato.
The cumin plant yields a unique flavor commonly used in Mexican dishes. This spice as we know it is the seed of a feathery plant that’s related to parsley. It even blossoms into a beautiful purple flower.
Chestnuts are meaty and delicious, especially when roasted for a winter snack. But they don’t seem very welcoming on the tree when they’re covered in alien-looking spines.
Brazil nuts aren’t the most popular nut yet they’re still recognizable for most of us. But they look pretty bizarre when harvested, clustered together like citrus seeds inside a large fruit.
As the name implies, pine nuts are the fruit of stone pine trees, which aren’t well-known in the United States. But with that knowledge, it’s not surprising they look a lot like pine cones while growing.
Wild rice is a staple of diets around the world. But before it’s harvested, it doesn’t even look edible. Almost indistinguishable from other grass, wild rice grows in marshy areas on long stalks.
65 stunning photos that prove you have no idea how your food is grown
Cedric Jackson
01.17.20
In this day and age, it’s often a long journey from field to table for the food we eat. Never before in history, have we had access to food from around the world. With amazing preservation abilities and quick transport, we can eat pineapples in Minnesota during the cold months of January — even if they’re from a can.
But being so far removed from our food, most of us have no idea what it looks like while growing. You might be surprised to realize that pineapples grow on individual stalks. Or that mustard starts out as a beautiful yellow flower. Even your morning cup of coffee started out as a cluster of bright red berries.
Let’s face it — most of us don’t stop to think about where our food comes from. For most of us, we just assume it grows the way we’ve always imagined. You probably think bananas grow on trees, right? They actually grow on enormous herbs covered in purple flowers. Chestnuts come out of spine-covered pods and peanuts are the roots of flowers.
There’s an entire wide world of crazy food out there. Here are 65 types of food that don’t grow the way you think.
