Food is perhaps the one thing that people interact with the most in their daily lives. There is quite a number of unknown information about the food that we eat.
Some are informative, some are shocking, some are fascinating, but all are worth knowing. Below are some of the lesser known but good to know facts about food.
You may be surprised that some of your favorite food items have a hidden history or some obscure food trivia.
Coconut Water as a Replacement for Blood Plasma
In rare and emergency cases where blood plasma is not available, coconut water is being used as its substitute. It has been done quite a number of times too under the described situations.
Coco water or coconut water can be found in coconuts and is not the same as coconut milk, which is extracted from the meat of the fruit itself.
Coco water is highly sterile and possesses a pH level that is comparable to blood plasma.
Coconut water is known in the medical circles as liquid endosperm that works to surround the embryo for protection as well as for providing nutrition.
Peanuts Are Used for Making Dynamite
One of the world’s favorite snack foods is also an ingredient for a widely used weapon of mass destruction.
Peanut oil is commonly used in the making of this weapon by processing it to produce glycerol. Glycerol in turn is a key ingredient in formulating nitroglycerin, which is a key component to making dynamites.
You need not worry though that your next peanut may just explode in your mouth because in the process for making dynamite the peanut undergoes a total transformation.
Also, there are many other methods that can be used to manufacture dynamite other than using peanuts as one of its components.
The Technology Behind the Microwave Oven Was Discovered by Accident
Nuking food was accidentally discovered by Percy LeBaron Spencer from the Raytheon Company. This happened when his chocolate bar melted in his pocket while passing through a radar tube.
The microwave power of the radar tube melted the chocolate bar that Spencer was carrying in his pocket.
Having seen this he experimented with placing popcorn on the path of the tube. Spencer is now known worldwide as the inventor of the microwave oven.
Popsicle Was the Idea of a Boy Aged 11
He kept it hidden from the world for the next 18 years of his life. Frank Epperson who at the age of 11 left a mixture of water, powdered soda, plus a mixing stick in the porch of his family’s San Francisco, California home in 1905.
The mixture stayed on the porch through one of the lowest temperatures in the city.
When Epperson awoke the following day, he found that the liquid has frozen and attached to the stirring stick.
He called the frozen delight epsicle but it was not 18 years hence when he decided to have this invention patented and named it “Popsicle”.
Worcestershire Sauce Is Made From Dissolved Anchovies
This highly popular condiment that originated from England is made from dissolved anchovies cured in vinegar and preserved until the fish is completely melted.
The formula contains every part of the fish including the bones and fins.
Refried Beans Are Not Refried
Whoever came up with the name refried beans is definitely not Spanish as they made an error in translating this ingredient.
The Spanish term for refried beans is frijoles refritos, which literally means “well fried beans” – not re-fried. So these great tasting beans are fried only once.
See also: 13 Best Natural Appetite Suppressant Foods
Hippopotamus Soup Anyone?
It has been discovered that the earliest evidence of soup were unearthed by archaeologists. Their findings indicate that first soup people ate was hippopotamus soup and this happened around 6000 BC.
FDA Has Approved Bugs and Rodent Hair for Human Consumption
Are you a peanut butter lover? Who isn’t right? Are you aware though that the United States Food and Drug Administration has approved insect fragments and more rodent hairs to be used in the formulation of peanut butter?
I will never look at peanut butter the same way after gaining this knowledge and think carefully before purchasing my next jar.
The Largest Food Item Ever Found on a Menu is Roast Camel
Imagine the most bizarre food you can ever think of. Whatever it is will not hold a candle to this weird way of preparing camel.
The camel is stuffed with a sheep’s carcass. The sheep’s carcass has been stuffed with chickens first before they are slaughtered and stuffed into the camel.
Other ingredient that goes into the roast includes eggs and fish. Roast camel prepared in this manner have been known to make a regular appearance in Bedouin weddings.
The Most Expensive Coffee in the World is Made of Animal Refuse
Not only is coffee the most recognized scent in the world, it is also the most widely consumed beverage worldwide and this is even before Starbucks and Seattle’s Best.
But did you know that the most costly coffee throughout the world is the Kopi Luwak coffee beans.
They are not strictly coffee beans but the excrement of the cat-sized mammal Civet.
This species feed only on the finest and ripest berries, and when they excrete these partially-digested fruits that take the form of beans, they are harvested and brewed to produce this very expensive coffee.
Kopi Luwak sells for up to $600 a pound.
The U.S. and Japan are the main patrons of this coffee, but it is fast becoming popular in many other places.
This begs the question: who in their right mind would think of brewing animal poop for coffee. Whoever they are they have definitely stumbled upon a gold mine.
See also: Green Coffee Bean Extract
Surely, there are many other food facts that will blow our socks off so to speak and I have barely scratched the surface here.
So the next time you eat, take a little pause to ponder on the background of the food that you are letting into your body. You just might stumble upon the cure for cancer in one of these food types.
