How much do you know about the food you eat?
Most of us have looked into nutrition information, but plenty of people just don’t know what where their food comes from or what it’s really made out of.
That’s why we’ve gathered 44 tidbits that might just surprise you.
1. Diamonds can be made from peanut butter
The high-carbon content of peanut butter makes it a great substance for use in laboratory-created diamonds. A scientist on a German TV station proved that it was possible a few years ago.
2. The filling in Kit Kats is made with crumbs from broken Kit Kat bars
The bars that don’t make the cut get crushed up and placed in between the wafers. So in other words, Kit Kats are actually stuffed with more Kit Kats. No wonder they taste so good!
3. Potatoes were once used to test Wifi signals on planes
Because of their chemistry and water content, potatoes absorb the signals in much the same way that humans do. Boeing actually placed sacks of potatoes in their plane seats to test out their wireless system.
4. German chocolate cake has nothing to do with Germany
The name was derived from an American man named Sam German. In 1852, he created a chocolate company, and his dark baking chocolate bar was used in the cake recipe.
5. There are enough varieties of apples to eat a different one every day for twenty years
There are around 7500 varieties of apples in total. Divide that number by 365 and you get 20.55 years. You can go for two full decades without ever eating the same variety of apple twice.
6. McDonald’s used to cook their fries in beef fat
The fries were cooked this way up until just a few decades ago. The company ultimately changed its recipe in 1990 in an attempt to make the dish healthier. It was a response to groups who were lobbying against fat and cholesterol in fast food products.
7. Every year, 4% of the world’s cheese is stolen
It’s the most frequently stolen food item in retail stores. Thieves always go for the cheese first. It means that around 1 in every 25 packs of cheese in the grocery aisle goes mysteriously missing.
8. Coconut water is a potential blood plasma alternative
The water, not milk, from inside coconuts isn’t just for drinking and cooking anymore. In crisis situations, people have often used it as a replacement for blood plasma. There are numerous examples of it being injected intravenously throughout history.
9. Food tastes different on airplanes because we lose our sense of taste
Airplane food isn’t known for being incredibly delicious. Part of that may be because when flying at altitude in a pressurized cabin, our sense of taste and smell is drastically reduced. It can be as much as 30% less sensation for sweet and salty foods.
10. It isn’t necessary to wash chicken before cooking
Many people think that you should always wash it first. However, professional germ experts say that washing the raw chicken may actually cause you more problems. It can spread the raw juice onto other kitchen items without actually removing the bacteria from the original piece of chicken.
11. Eating too much nutmeg can cause you to get high
In large quantities, nutmeg can give you a buzz that lasts for multiple days. It contains an active compound called myristicin. However, due to its unpleasant side effects, it’s not very popular.
12. Cranberries are harvested from marshes
They don’t grow on trees as most people imagine. Instead, cranberries grow in vast marshes of knee-deep water. In order to pick them, you have to wade into the middle of it all.
13. Cashews grow on the ends of cashew apples
The apple portion of the cashew plant is edible and is used in some juices and recipes. However, the plant is really only famous for the nut that grows on the end. They are plucked from the apple portion, then dried and cracked.
14. The only difference between peaches and nectarines is the skin
They are essentially the same genetically. However, there is one gene that causes the skin to be fuzzy in peaches and smooth in nectarines. It is either switched on or off.
15. Ketchup was sold in a pill form as diarrhea medicine back in the 1800s
Originally, tomatoes were not only considered delicious but also medicinal. Back then, ketchup was purported to cure all sorts of illnesses and ailments. The condiment has really come a long way over time.
16. They don’t have fortune cookies in China
The little cookies with the fortunes in them are a completely American invention. They are only really seen in American Chinese restaurants. If you served them in China, people would be very confused.
17. Hawaiian pizza is from Canada
Everyone loves the classic pineapple and ham Hawaiian-style pizza. What most people don’t know is that it has nothing to do with Hawaii at all. The topping combination first became popular at a pizza restaurant in Ontario in the 1960s.
18. It requires 1700 liters of water to make a 100-gram chocolate bar
The cocoa beans take an incredible amount of water to grow. The most ideal cocoa growing locations are right around the equator of the earth. Your typical bar of chocolate needs 1700 liters to be produced in the end.
19. Mountain Dew is mostly orange juice
It’s supposed to be lemon-lime, or something like that, right? That’s what many people suspect. However, upon closer inspection of the ingredients, you’ll see that the third ingredient listed is concentrated orange juice, right behind high fructose corn syrup, and carbonated water.
20. The name Spam is a combination of “spice” and “ham”
It’s not just some random mystery meat. The primary ingredient of Spam is actually pork. The name was essentially meant to be a play on spiced ham.
21. Glass Gem corn has rainbow kernels that look like little beads of glass
It seems like it could easily be fake, but corn with multi-colored kernels is actually a real thing. It’s called Glass Gem corn. The beautiful colors were created by mixing several Native American varieties of corn.
22. European chocolate is legally required to taste better
At least, by most people’s standards. European law specifies that all chocolate must have a certain percentage of milk fat that is higher than what is required in the USA. It gives it that rich flavor that we love.
23. Most wasabi is horseradish with green food coloring
It’s likely that you’ve never actually tasted authentic wasabi. The stuff that most sushi restaurants use in the United States is a mix of horseradish, mustard, and food dye. Even in Japan, real wasabi is rare to find.
24. Monk fruit extract is about 250 times sweeter than sugar
If you are looking for a natural sweetener that really packs a punch, look no further than monk fruit. Compared to sucrose (common sugar), the difference isn’t even close. You’ll only need a small pinch of the monk fruit extract.
25. Potatoes contain an extremely high percentage of water
80% of a potato is water and the other measly 20% are solids. It’s weird to think about because we consider a potato to be a very solid product. However, all of that weight is mainly due to the massive water content.
26. Pineapple plants can take two to three years to produce a fruit
There is a long process involved before that pineapple is ready to be harvested. If you were to grow it from seed, a pineapple plant will take an entire year before it is even ready to begin forming a fruit.
27. Most 100% orange juice isn’t actually 100% natural
The extraction process causes a lot of the natural flavors to be lost. The companies then have to mix artificial flavors in with the juice to compensate. Therefore, even it is 100% juice, it might still be very fake.
28. Take 5 candy bars use Reese’s Peanut Butter as the filling
Mixed in with the peanuts, chocolate, caramel, and pretzels of the Take 5 is a creamy Reese’s peanut butter. It makes sense. After all, they are both produced by The Hershey Company.
29. Cilantro and coriander are the same thing
If you’ve seen both names used in recipes before, we can understand your confusion. Cilantro is the American word for the spice. Whereas, the term coriander is used in the United Kingdom.
30. Garlic applied to the skin can cause chemical burns
It smells very pungent when cooked. However, some of those same chemicals also cause it to be caustic to the skin. A couple of crushed garlic cloves left to sit on the skin can cause second and third-degree burns in extreme cases.
31. Parmesan cheese is essentially lactose-free
Each serving of parmesan has less than one gram of lactose in it. For all intents and purposes, that is basically nothing. It is one of the most easily digestible cheeses.
32. There is more vitamin C in peppers than in oranges
Oranges are the go-to choice when someone is lacking vitamin C. However, peppers are an even better source. A cup of chopped red bell pepper contains about three times as much vitamin C as one orange.
33. McDonald’s sells around 75 burgers per second
On a global scale, the burgers are flying off the grill faster than we can count. There is a reason why McDonald’s has had so much success over the years. They specialize in speed.
34. “Fruit salad trees” can grow different fruits on the same tree
“Fruit salad trees” are a real thing, although the fruits do all have to belong to the same family. For example, you can get a tree with six different types of citrus fruits on it, or one with yellow, green, and red apples all on the same branch.
35. Red wine causes more drowsiness than other types of alcohol
A study was done to see if different alcohol affected people’s emotions differently. Out of all of the choices, red wine made people the sleepiest. Spirits, white wine, and beer didn’t have the same effect.
36. Lemons float in water while limes sink
It’s an interesting phenomenon that you can test out for yourself. Limes are slightly more dense than water whereas lemons are slightly less dense. The result is that one sinks and one floats.
37. Astronauts from NASA ate food grown in space in 2015
They feasted on a small lettuce plant. It was the first-ever type of food that was both grown and consumed in space. It was part of a vegetable-growing experiment.
38. The singular word for spaghetti is spaghetto
If you are referring to all of the pasta in the dish, it’s spaghetti. However, if you are only talking about a single noodle, it’s spaghetto. That’s just how the crazy Italians do things!
39. In the USA, Haribo Green Gummy Bears are strawberry flavored
In the United Kingdom and Germany, the green ones are apple-flavored. We suppose that other places prefer different flavors, but still, a green strawberry? It just doesn’t make sense.
40. President John Adams drank a quarter pint of cider daily and lived to be 90
It was his morning ritual. He would drink about four ounces of cider daily upon awakening. His practice seems to have caused him no ill health effects over the long term.
41. Any foods with “added fiber” have cellulose in them
What did you think all of that “added fiber” was made of? Cellulose, or wood pulp as it’s otherwise known, is very common in cereals, shredded cheeses, and other similar products. Even though it sounds a little bit gross, it’s okay to eat in small amounts.
42. The first bananas were mostly inedible
They looked nothing like the bananas we are used to now. They used to be green and had very little edible fruit inside. We only got the modern banana through years and years of careful domestication.
43. The word “cookies” originates from the Dutch word “koekje”
The actual meaning of the word in Dutch is “little cake”. If you think about it, that’s all a cookie really is. It’s a small cake served up in a portion size that’s only a bite or two.
44. Asparagus grows on stalks in the dirt
It doesn’t grow on vines or trees. Asparagus simply pops up right out of the ground. There are fields upon fields of this stuff out there.
We might start rethinking some of our food choices from here on out!
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