World Food Day: 7 Totally Bizarre Facts About Food
7 facts about food that you eat on a regular basis which will totally blow your mind
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Cheese is the most shoplifted food in the world. Honey never expires. The pineapple is not a single fruit. And those stickers on fruits and vegetables? The US FDA says they’re safe to eat! Read more hard-to-believe facts about the foods you’re eating:
1) Mouse Hair in Your Peanut Butter?
Is there mouse fur in your peanut butter? Insect parts? Could be.
Spices aren’t the only foods that contain a little something extra that no one wants to eat: think mold, insects and rodent hair.
These three are just a few of the substances found in our food supply that are determined safe for human consumption at certain levels. Maggots in canned mushrooms, mold in frozen berries, insect fragments in peanut butter, all of these substances are allowed at a certain level.
2) Honey Has Bee Vomit
True story.
You drink it in your tea and give it to your kids for better health. But did you know that the process of making that gorgeous golden syrup involves the worker bee secreting the enzymes via vomit into the honeycomb?
To get all that extra water out of the honey, the worker bees start fanning the honeycomb with their wings to speed up the process of evaporation.
So now you know how the honey got all yum and goey?
3) Dynamite Contains Peanuts!
You totally read it right. Those innocent-looking snacks in your kitchen cabinets could be used to make a dynamite!
Dynamite contains a compound called nitroglycerine, which is an extremely unstable explosive that could detonate at the slightest jolt. This in turn, is obtained from a substance called glycerol. The rich oil that peanuts contain is extracted and used to make glycerol. As long as it has not undergone the nitration process, glycerol is a safe liquid.
4) Gelatin is Made From What?
Look at the ingredients on a package of gummy bears, you’ll see things like corn syrup, sugar and gelatin. Seems innocent enough? Wait for it.
Gelatin, the yellowish, odourloss and nearly tasteless powder is made by prolonged boiling of skin, cartilage, and bones from animals. It’s made primarily from the stuff meat industries have left over; we’re talking about pork skins, horns, and cattle bones. Yummy in your tummy?
5) Apples and Roses are Related
The rose family doesn’t only have beautiful flowers but also some of the yummiest fruits. Turns out apples, peaches, cherries and strawberries are all a part of this diverse family!
Also, did you know there are over 1000 different kinds of apples and they are stronger in jolting you out of bed than your morning cuppa joe.
6) Nutmeg Can Make You Hallucinate
Nope, we aren’t talking LSD here. It might sound like an old wives’ tale (or a bored teenager’s tale to be precise) but nutmeg is a psychoactive substance in the right doses.
It takes somewhere between 5 and 15 grams of grated nutmeg–about two tablespoons or two whole seeds for the effects to kick in. The side-effects are severe. You’ll feel spaced out, totally stoned, your eyes will feel like they are popping out, there will be severe loosies. So don’t OD on it, ever.
7) Ketchup Pills, Anyone?
Aah, ketchup! Don’t we all love our ketchup with all the fast foods. The condiment can be an obsession and is certainly the source of some very unusual facts. Figure this: in 1835, the red delight was sold as tomato pills to treat diarrhea.
The idea came from a professor in Ohio University that tomato could cure illnesses such as diarrhea, jaundice and indigestion.
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As the world celebrates World Food Day today, we at The Quint have started our Wine & Dine section to mark the day and whet your appetite.