Here is a collection of amazing and interesting facts about food so you can impress your friends.
Ask them, did you know…
1. almonds are a member of the peach family.
2. Americans eat approximately 10kg of tomatoes yearly, over half of which is in the form of Ketchup and tomato sauce.
3. apple is made of 25% air, that is why they float.
4. apples, onions, and potatoes all have the same taste? Try the test: Pinch your nose and take a bite out of each.
5. avocado has the highest protein and oil content of all fruits, but most of this is the healthier unsaturated type.
6. beer drunk with dinner works better than drinking red wine, gin or sparkling mineral water in controlling homocysteine, a blood factor that promotes heart disease by boosting blood levels of vitamin B6.
7. beer is a popular ingredient in batter for deep fried foods since the protein in beer provides browning and produces a light, crisp, dry batter when cooked.
8. beer of 375mL has fewer calories than two slices of bread and contains no fat.
9. birds eat half their own body weight in food each day! So, why do people say that a poor eater “eats like a bird”?
10. biscuit is a word derived from Latin via Middle French and means “twice cooked”.
11. black-eyed peas are really beans.
12. blenders were invented by Stephen Poplawski when in 1922 he became the first person to put a spinning blade at the bottom of a small electric appliance to make Horlick’s malted milk shakes.
13. brown sugar is either an unrefined or partially refined soft sugar with some residual molasses or produced by the addition of molasses to refined white sugar.
14. butter and margarine are similar in calories, the difference is that butter is higher in saturated fats, while margarine generally has more unsaturated fats.
15. canola is derived from “Canadian oil, low acid”.
16. cabbage is 91% water.
17. capers are the unopened green flower buds of a wild and cultivated bush which is related to the cabbage family.
18. capsaicin, which makes hot peppers “hot” to the human mouth, is best neutralized by casein, the main protein found in milk.
19. carrots were originally purple in colour, changing in the 17th Century to orange with newer varieties.
20. celery requires more calories to eat and digest than it contains.
21. cereal as a word is derived from the name of the Roman goddess Ceres, protector of crops.
22. cherries are a member of the rose family.
23. chewing gum may keep you slim by boosting the metabolic rate by about 20%.
24. chewing gum stimulates signals in the learning centre of the brain and thus help save memory as you age.
25. chilli heat is measured in Scoville units, named after the pharmacist Thomas Scoville.
26. chocolate bloom occurs when the cocoa butter has separated causing it to rise to the surface of the chocolate and is a result of the chocolate being stored in too humid or too warm a temperature.
27. chocolate is a particularly good source of magnesium, potassium and calcium. It also has antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties. On the down side it contains caffeine and has a high fat level.
28. chocolate may have its romantic effect due to the effects on the brain of a naturally occurring substance called phenylethylamine which enhances endorphin levels, increase libido and act a natural antidepressant.
29. coca-cola was originally green.
30. coffee is the most recognized smell in the world.
31. coffee originated from the Arabic word “qahwah”.
32. chicken is one of the few things that we eat before it’s born and after it’s dead.
33. corn always has an even number of ears.
34. corn makes up about 8% of the weight in a box of corn flakes.
35. cranberries are sorted for ripeness by bouncing them; a fully ripened cranberry can be dribbled like a basketball.
36. doughnuts were originally made of raised dough with a nut in the centre.
37. eggs contain most of the recognised vitamins with the exception of vitamin C.
38. eggplants are actually fruits, and classified botanically as berries.
39. fish consumption may be more than brain food but also help protect your eyes from age-related macular degeneration, a potential cause of blindness.
40. flamingos owe their pink or reddish colour to the rich sources of carotenoid pigments in the algae and small crustaceans that the birds eat.
41. fortune cookies are not Chinese, they were invented in Los Angeles around 1920.
42. gelato comes from the Italian word gelare which means to freeze; it is made from cow milk and its rich taste comes from being denser (30% air whereas ice cream is around 50%).
43. Gerber’s top selling baby food in Japan is sardine dish.
44. Grapefruit got its name because they often grow in bunches on the tree. Typically, fruits are scattered throughout the tree.
45. Guinness beer, after pouring, produces bubbles that sink to the bottom. The bubbles go up more easily in the centre of the beer glass than on the sides because of drag from the walls. As the bubbles go up, they raise the beer, and the beer has to spill back, and it does. It runs down the sides of the glass carrying the bubbles – particularly little bubbles – with it, downward to the bottom of the glass
46. hamburgers were invented in 1900 by Louis Lassen. He ground beef, broiled it, and served it between two pieces of toast.
47. Heinz Catsup leaves the bottle traveling at 40 kilometres per year.
48. himalayan gogi berry contains, weight for weight, more iron than steak, more beta carotene than carrots, more vitamin C than oranges.
49. honey is the only edible food for humans that will never go bad.
50. horseradish was the first product sold by Heinz in 1869.
51. humble pie comes from the food “umble pie”, a pie consisting of the innards of deer, which very poor people in Medieval England ate.
52. Kopi Luwa from Indonesia is the world’s costliest coffee, at US$350 a kilogram, thanks to a unique taste and aroma enhanced by the digestive system of droppings of palm civets, nocturnal tree-climbing creatures about the size of a large house cat, which eats ripe robusta coffee cherries for treats. The coffee beans, which are found inside of the cherries, remain intact after passing through the animal. Plantation workers track them and scoop their precious poop.
53. lemons contain more sugar than strawberries.
54. lettuce is the only vegetable or fruit which is never sold frozen, canned, processed, cooked, or in any other form but fresh.
55. lobster was so common in Maine in the 18th Century that it was used as fertiliser.
56. margarine was first called Butterine in England when it was introduced.
57. mayonnaise will kill lice and also condition your hair.
58. Mel Blanc (voice of Bugs Bunny) was allergic to carrots.
59. milk from reindeer has more fat than cow milk.
60. milk is the new diet drink since low-fat, high-calcium dairy foods may burn off fat since extra calcium increases metabolism.
61. nutmeg is extremely poisonous if injected intravenously.
62. olive oil has lots of anti-oxidants and anti-inflammatory activity to fight rheumatoid arthritis.
63. olive oil is an oil extracted from the fruit of the olive tree.
64. olive oil is the only vegetable oil that can be created simply by pressing the raw material.
65. orange does not rhyme with any other word.
66. organ meats were known as garbage in the 16th Century, the term then used for the innards of an animal.
67. parmigiano is a natural source of and has a high concentration of Monosodium glutamate (MSG), giving it the unami taste, found as small white crystals formed during maturation.
68. peanuts are legumes and not a tree nut.
69. peanuts are one of the ingredients in dynamite.
70. pear is a fruit that ripens from the inside out.
71. Pepsi-Cola was invented by Caleb Bradham in 1898. Originally called “Brad’s Drink,” the beverage was first marketed as a digestive aid and energy booster. It was renamed Pepsi-Cola because of its pepsin and kola nut content.
72. percentage alcohol in a bottle of liquor is estimated by dividing the proof by two.
73. pineapple is the international symbol of hospitality.
74. pizza originated in the early 1700’s in Naples, Italy.
75. pizza toppings of squid are the most popular variety in Japan.
76. Popsicle were invented by an 11 year old, Frank Epperson when he left his soda water drink with a stirring stick overnight on his porch.
77. pound cake was so named because of its original proportions of 1 lb (500g) each of butter, sugar, and flour.
78. puffed grain were invented by Alexander Anderson in 1902. Unlike popcorn, a type of corn that naturally pops or puffs up with heat, puffed cereal or snacks are formed by exploding whole grain kernels under high pressure and steam.
79. raisin in a glass of champagne will keep floating to the top and sinking to the bottom.
80. refried beans aren’t really what they seem. Although their name seems like a reasonable translation of Spanish frijoles refritos, the fact is that these beans aren’t fried twice. In Spanish, refritos literally means “well-fried,” not “re-fried.”
81. rice paper does not contain one grain of rice – its made from either Rice straw, Bamboo, Hemp, Mulberry leaves, Wingceltis or Gampi.
82. sandwiches are named after John Montagu, the Fourth Earl of Sandwich (1718-92), for whom beef was placed between 2 sliced pieces of bread so that he could stay at the gambling table without interruptions for meals.
83. shredded wheat was the first breakfast cereal to ever be produced.
84. sliced bread was introduced by Otto Frederick Rohwedder who invented the bread slicer, which he started working on in 1912. At first, Rohwedder came up with the idea of a device that held the slices together with hat pins (not a success). In 1928, he designed a machine 1.52m long by 0.90m high that sliced and wrapped the bread in waxed paper to prevent the sliced bread from going stale. On July 7, 1928, the first loaves of sliced bread were made by the near bankrupt baker Frank Bench.
85. soup has its origin as a word from ‘sop’ or ‘sup’, meaning the slice of bread on which the broth was poured.
86. soy flour and soya flour are richer in calcium and iron than wheat flour, gluten-free and high in protein. Soy flour is ground from raw soybeans; soya flour from lightly toasted soybeans.
87. spilling salt is considered good luck in Japan.
88. strawberries are the only fruit which has its seeds on its outer skin.
89. Swiss cheese ferments with bacteria generating gas which bubbles through the cheese leaving holes; cheese-makers call them “eyes.”
90. tea strengthens bones because isoflavonoid chemicals in tea may have a weak estrogenic effect, reducing bone deterioration and osteoporosis risk.
91. ten gallon hats only hold about 6 pints or 2.8 Litres.
92. toasters for bread using electricity were invented by Crompton and Company, Leeds, England in 1893; the first automatic pop-up electric toaster was designed in 1919 by Charles Strite.
93. tomato used to be considered poisonous.
94. Tootsie Rolls were the first wrapped penny candy in America.
95. traditional Italian food is an anagram of radiation, toil, fat and oil.
96. TV dinners were introduced in 1954 by Omaha-based C.A. Swanson and Sons featuring roast turkey with stuffing and gravy, sweet potatoes and peas, selling for 98 cents.
97. Vegemite is an Australian icon which was developed in 1922 by Dr. Cyril Callister. He took used brewer’s yeast and blended the yeast extract with ingredients like celery, onion, salt, and a few secret ingredients to make this paste rich in B vitamins; it was developed for the Fred Walker Company which is now Kraft Foods.
98. white chocolate is not a true chocolate because it contains no chocolate liquor, instead its made of sugar, cocoa butter, milk solids, lecithin and vanilla.
99. white shelled eggs are produced by hens with white feathers and earlobes while brown eggs are produced by
100.hens with red feathers and earlobes; the colour has no relationship to the nutritional quality or taste of the eggs.
101.Wrigley’s gum was the first product to have a bar code.
102.yelling for 8 years, 7 months and 6 days produces enough sound energy to heat one cup of coffee