Food — Page 10

The spiciest part of a chili pepper is not the seeds, but the white pith inside.

This is a common myth. Capsaicin, the chemical compound responsible for the heat, is concentrated mainly in the…

Cashews are never sold in their shells due to a corrosive toxin.

The shell contains anacardic acid, which causes severe skin burns and is toxic if ingested. Therefore, cashews are…

Fresh cranberries bounce when they are fully ripe.

Farmers use machines that bounce the berries to separate the ripe ones from the damaged ones. Air pockets inside the…

Pineapple contains an enzyme that breaks down proteins, making your mouth tingle.

Bromelain digests the proteins in the mucous membranes of your mouth while you chew. It is the only well-known fruit…

Carrots were originally purple and only became orange in the sixteenth century.

The wild carrot was purple or yellow. Dutch farmers crossbred mutant varieties to create the orange carrot in honor…

Figs are pollinated by wasps that die inside the fruit.

The female wasp enters the fig to lay eggs and pollinate the inner flowers. In the process, she loses her wings and…

Ketchup was sold as a medicine to purify the blood in the eighteen thirties.

An American doctor sold tomato extract as a cure for diarrhea, indigestion, and rheumatism. The addition of vinegar…

Saffron is often more expensive than gold by weight.

Saffron comes from the stigmas of the Crocus sativus flower. Each flower produces only three tiny stigmas that must…

The potato was the first vegetable to be grown in space.

In nineteen ninety-five, aboard the Space Shuttle Columbia, scientists successfully grew potatoes, testing the…

Apples float in water because they are composed of a quarter air.

The volume of an apple contains about twenty-five percent air between its cells, which reduces its overall density to…

To produce half a kilo of honey, bees visit two million flowers.

A single bee produces only one twelfth of a teaspoon of honey during its entire life, making collective work…

The Aztecs used cacao seeds as currency.

Cacao was so valuable that it was used to pay taxes and buy goods, with a rabbit costing about ten seeds and a slave…

Popcorn has existed for over five thousand years.

Indigenous peoples of Mexico were already cultivating and popping corn long before Europeans arrived, using it in…

Vanilla comes from an orchid.

The vanilla pod is the fruit of the Vanilla planifolia orchid, which must be hand-pollinated outside its natural…

The cashew we eat is actually the plant's stem.

The true fruit of the cashew tree is the nut that grows on the outside, at the end of the swollen and juicy stem that…

A pineapple takes over two years to grow.

Unlike other fruits that yield annual harvests, the pineapple plant requires a long growth and maturation cycle…

The cashew grows hanging from the base of a false fruit called the cashew apple.

The true fruit is the nut, which develops outside the fleshy stalk to prevent the seed from being digested by animals.

A pineapple takes about two years to grow until it is ready to be harvested.

The plant grows slowly and produces only a single fruit per cycle, requiring patience and specific climatic…

Peanuts are one of the ingredients used in the manufacture of dynamite.

Peanut oil can be processed to produce glycerol, which in turn is converted into nitroglycerin, the explosive…

Raspberries belong to the rose family.

Like apples, pears, and strawberries, raspberries are part of the Rosaceae family, sharing botanical and structural…

The wasabi served in most restaurants is actually horseradish dyed green.

Real wasabi is a rare and expensive plant that loses its flavour quickly after being grated, so the industry uses…

Pineapple contains an enzyme that digests proteins, meaning it eats you back.

Bromelain breaks down proteins in the mouth and stomach, causing that slight tingling or burning sensation when…

Saffron is more expensive by weight than gold.

Tens of thousands of saffron flowers, harvested by hand, are needed to produce just a few grams of the spice, making…

Carrots were originally purple or yellow.

The orange variety we know today was cultivated by Dutch farmers in the seventeenth century, possibly as a tribute to…