20 Mind-Blowing Facts About Food That You Probably Didn’t Know About

In the 19th century, tomatoes were believed to have medicinal qualities. A doctor in Ohio in the 1830s claimed that tomatoes could treat diarrhea and indigestion, publishing recipes for a kind of tomato ketchup that he soon turned into a concentrated pill.

Cellulose which is essentially sawdust is often used in various shredded cheese products and cereals to prevent them from clumping.

Peppers are not always the same plant. In fact, some green peppers are unripe red peppers, green, yellow, orange, and red peppers are all unique plants with their own seeds.

Titanium dioxide is a food additive that can be found in a variety of foodstuffs, like ranch dressing, coffee creamer, icing, and powdered sugar. It is used to make whites appear whiter. But, for this same reason, it can also be found in items like paint, sunscreen, and laundry detergent.

A typical ear of corn generally has 16 rows.

Studies showed that hamburgers are almost always a mishmash of many animals. In fact, the ground beef we buy at the supermarket is made of an unknown collection of muscle tissues. 

Can you believe that peanut butter can turn into diamonds? Well, researchers at the Bayerisches Geoinstitut in Germany have discovered that since peanut butter is so rich in carbon, it's possible to turn simple Skippy into diamonds.

Despite the name, White chocolate doesn't actually contain any real chocolate components. It’s according to Bon Appetit, white chocolate is made up of a blend of sugar, milk products, vanilla, lecithin, and cocoa butter but no chocolate solids.

Do you like to know how gummy candies get that glossy sheen? Actually, they're coated with carnauba wax, the same stuff that is used on cars to make them shiny.

Cranberries are known as "bounce berries" because they bounce when they're ripe. In fact, bouncing cranberries is a common ripeness test for farmers and consumers alike.

When he was a kid, Frank Epperson left a mixture of soda and water in a cup outside overnight. When his mixture froze and he ate his newfound treat.

At first, Epperson called his invention the "Epsicle" and began selling it all over Neptune Beach in San Francisco that summer. Then, when he got older, Epperson's children began calling his creation "Pop's 'Sicle," or "Popsicle."

Wild salmon is naturally pink due to a large amount of shrimp in their diet, farm-raised salmon eat differently. But, in order to achieve that pleasing pink color, salmon farmers add carotenoids (plant pigments) to the fish feed to mimic the natural hue of wild salmon.

Apple pies are not actually very American. In fact, apple pies were invented in Medieval England, while the modern recipe for apple pie with a lattice crust was created and perfected by the Dutch.

To test out their wireless signal on new planes in 2012, Boeing placed giant piles of potatoes on seats. Because of high water content and chemical makeup, potatoes absorb and reflect radio and wireless signals just like humans do.

Do you know that raw oysters are still alive when you eat them?. In fact, Oysters deteriorate so fast that chefs have to serve them very quickly while they're still alive, basically. 

Eventually, some varieties of the shellfish can survive out of the water for up to two weeks, which is why oysters are stored under particularly regulated condition. If they die, they are no longer safe to eat.

The common yellow fruits you see in the supermarket are all genetic clones of the Cavendish variety. In fact, the Cavendish was mass-produced, according to the Economist, because it does not have seeds, a desirable trait for consumers and it survives longer than its banana cousins.

It’s known that the Aztecs love chocolate, but according to the International Cocoa Organization, they also used cocoa beans as currency. It seemed funny that people under Aztec rule could use cocoa to pay their taxes.

Honey will never rot cause its natural state is very low in moisture and very acidic which are two primary defenses against food spoilage. In fact, bacteria will die almost immediately, according to the Honey and Pollination Center at the Robert Mondavi Institute at the University of California. 

Over the years, purple carrots were the standard, but over time yellow and white carrots were discovered growing wildly. In the 17th-century, Dutch carrot growers managed to cultivate these white and yellow carrots into the orange ones we’re comfortable with now.

In the 18th century, in Europe, the tomato was named "the poison apple," because aristocrats would oftentimes get sick and die after eating them. Then, they know that the explanation had to do with their choice of tableware, not the tomatoes. 

In fact, according to the historical cookbook, the high acidity of tomatoes would cause lead to leach from the pewter plates used by rich aristocrats and cause lead poisoning.