I don’t even know what to believe anymore!
Although food is the most vital part of our daily life, the origin of food is not something you would really think about when eating your favourite meal. Be it organic food or man-made stuff, there is always some beguiling facts associated with it. From bananas to bell peppers, here are some amazing facts about food that will blow your mind.
1. Carrots don’t make your vision better!
I’m sure we can all relate to at least one incident from our childhood when adults conned us into eating carrots saying they improve our eyesight. While Carrots are rich in beta-carotene, they are a great source of Vitamin A but eating them won’t improve our vision. Although it can’t reverse the vision loss or make any structural changes to the eye, the carrot promotes overall eye health
2. Arachibutyrophobia is true!
It is a fear of being choked by peanut butter. Specifically, it refers to the fear of peanut butter sticking to the roof of your mouth. While being afraid of having peanut butter stuck to the top of your mouth might seem like an unusual thing to be fearful of for most of us, the prevalence of peanut allergies and how serious it is, make it clear why this phobia exists.
3. Honey Never Expires!
If you are considering throwing away the honey that’s been sitting in your pantry for a really long time, then it’s time to reconsider. You don’t have to toss the honey! Even if honey had been sitting on your shelf for 2,000 years, that honey would still be as good as the day you opened it. In a nutshell, well-stored honey never expires or spoils, even if it’s been previously opened. As Honey is antibacterial, you don’t have to worry about anything funky growing in your honey.
4. Ripe cranberries will bounce like rubber balls!
The way to tell if your cranberries are super fresh is to drop one on the floor from a bit of a height. If it’s fresh it will bounce due to the small pocket of air present in them. The bounce means the berry is still nice and firm. So next time when you are buying cranberries just test them yourselves.
5. Nutmeg can get you high !
Yes, you can get high on nutmeg. It is a hallucinogenic that can get you really, really high this is known as nutmeg toxication. It contains myristicin, a natural compound that can give you a buzz that lasts days, much like LSD. Before snorting on the nutmeg know that it has severe side effects like vomiting, diarrhoea, drowsiness, hallucinations and seizures in severe cases.
6. Parmesan Cheese isn’t vegetarian!
Cheese is often one of the reasons that hold most vegetarians from going vegan, but it turns out not all the cheese are vegetarian. Blame a little something called rennet. Parmesan cheese is basically made by coagulating milk to create curd. Coagulating is the point of preparation where the milk is laced with rennet. Rennet is nothing but an enzyme produced in calves’ stomach and is acquired by killing them. And, thus making it inappropriate for vegetarians.
7. There are dead wasps in your Figs!
Are there really dead wasps in figs? Well, I know it’s kinda gross to fathom it but apparently, that is true. Figs are pollinated by female wasps, who lose their wings in the process of pollination. The wasp has no way to get out of the fig and so they die inside, and then the fig’s enzymes break down and dissolve the wasp. So if you get a little un-enzymed wasp with your fruit, it’s not really that much when you compare it to bug content in other foods.
8. You cant overcook Mushrooms!
Yes, it’s basically impossible to overcook mushrooms. Hers’s why? The cell walls of mushrooms are made of a polymer called chitin. Unlike the proteins in meat or the pectin in vegetables, chitin is very heat-stable. This unique structure allows us to quickly saute mushrooms for a few minutes or roast them for the better part of an hour, all the while achieving well-browned, perfectly tender specimens.
9. Nutella uses 25% of the world’s Hazelnut supply!
Nutella was an unexpected by-product of WWII. Italian chocolate-maker, Ferrero, couldn’t get enough cocoa, so he was forced to use hazelnuts instead. The result soon swept the nation and eventually the world. Nutella is now an infallible, global brand, and as a result, they use a quarter of the world’s hazelnuts. Thanks to Nutella, the world needs more hazelnut now.
10. Bird’s Saliva Is Actually An Expensive Delicacy!
Forget caviar and expensive truffles, bird’s saliva is the food of the affluent, at least in China anyway. Bird’s Nest Soup, also known as Bird’s Saliva Soup, is one of the most famous but also most controversial delicacies in Chinese cuisine. Many people are willing to spend fortunes on this soup as they believe eating it will help them maintain their youth as well as have a long healthy life and a strong body.