The Most Random Food Facts We Can’t Believe Are True

1. Honey never spoils

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They say honey is a superfood - and they’re not wrong! I’ve always found it amazing how honey is made in the first place, but that’s a whole different article. But what’s really amazing about honey is that it never goes off! There have been archaeologists who’ve come across pots of honey lying within ancient Egyptian tombs for over 3,000 years and it was still perfectly edible! However, honey isn’t completely immune to time. It does undergo natural changes, but this just causes it to darken, lose flavour and crystallize, you can still eat it!

2. The most expensive coffee in the world is made from feces

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Okay, this is just totally gross. I love coffee as much as the next person, but I would definitely rather give up coffee for the rest of my life than drink this. I’m telling the truth here, seriously, look it up! The coffee is called Kopi Luwak and sells for up to $100 per cup. The secret ingredient? Excrement. Specifically from a mammal called a civet. What I want to know here is, how did they discover this ingredient? Who was the first to suggest putting feces in their coffee and why were they not fired?

3. Chocolate was once used as currency by the Aztecs

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Now, this one I can get behind. Chocolate is one of the best things that money can buy anyway, right? The Aztecs were the original chocoholics, they even believed that cacao was given to them by their gods. I mean, who are we to say that they were wrong about this? They therefore saw the beans as highly valuable and were extremely protective over them! The beans were still consumed by the Aztecs, mainly in a variety of hot, cold and spiced beverages. But they were also used to buy other food and goods.

4. Ketchup was originally sold as medicine in the 1830s

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Back in the 1830s, American physician Dr. John Cook Bennett introduced the use of tomato ketchup as a medicine! In fact, he even began to sell ketchup in pill form! It was mainly used to supposedly cure digestive issues like diarrhea and indigestion. But, some people even believed that it helped with jaundice. The idea was based on the fact ketchup was high in lycopene, which is true. It’s a plant chemical that does actually have some antioxidant properties. Unfortunately, though, it can’t cure ailments.

5. The world's hottest chili pepper measures over 2 million Scoville Heat Units

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For reference, a jalapeño is around 2,500 Scoville Heat Units. But, the Carolina Reaper, named hottest in the chili in the world by the Guinness World Records, measures more than 2,000,000! This beast was actually unleashed by Ed Currie from South Carolina (hence the name). He crossbred a red habanero pepper with the Naga Viper. In case you were wondering, these were both incredibly hot to start with. In fact, one man was sent to hospital after eating a Carolina Reaper in an eating contest with “thunderclap headaches”.

6. Bananas are berries, but strawberries are not

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If we’re getting scientific, a banana actually classes as both a fruit and a berry. They class as a berry because they have tiny seeds and they’re grown from a flower! The banana flower has an ovary which develops into a banana. In fact, pumpkins, avocados and cucumbers are all berries too! As if your mind wasn’t already blown enough, neither strawberries or blackberries are actually berries. I know, your life has been a lie. Or, at least that’s how I felt when I found out these super weird facts!

7. Worcestershire sauce contains anchovies

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If you’re vegan, vegetarian or have an allergy to fish, you’re gonna want to listen up. Did you know that Worcestershire sauce is made from anchovies? Well, now you do! It just doesn’t feel right to me, putting fish into a sauce. If this is a problem for you but you love yourself some Worcestershire sauce, never fear! You can actually make it yourself at home with just 9 ingredients (not including anchovies), and it’s super quick to make, too. You can find a recipe online and whip this up within half an hour!

8. The blueberry is one of the only naturally blue foods

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When you’re preparing food, you’re taught to wear a blue plaster if you must wear one. This is because if it was to fall off, it’s going to stand out easily as there aren’t really any naturally blue foods! But, what if you’re making blueberry pie? Blueberries are one of the only completely naturally blue foods out there. Although, some people argue that even blueberries don’t count. They’re blue because of the anthocyanins, which are pigments inside the fruit. Either way, they’re delicious and that’s what matters.

9. The world's most expensive pizza costs over $12,000

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Pizza is one of the best things about life, in my opinion. But could you warrant paying $2,000 for one pizza? In fact, it comes in at around $250 per slice! What makes this pizza so expensive? Well, it’s covered in 24-karat gold. The flavours are stilton cheese, Osetra caviar, truffles, and Foie Gras. I’m sure this is nice if you have a sophisticated palate and expensive taste. But, even if you had all the money in the world, is it worth $50 for every single mouthful you take? I think I’ll stick to pepperoni.

10. McDonald's once made bubblegum-flavored broccoli

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In a crazy attempt to encourage kids to eat healthier, McDonalds once released bubble-gum flavoured broccoli. Gross, right? This whacky idea actually happened in 2014. I don’t know about you, but I had no idea that this had ever happened! That’s because (unsurprisingly) it was a huge flop. Apparently, the taste didn’t come out great and the idea was quickly thrown in the trash. McDonalds, stay in your lane! Leave the healthy meals to those who know what they’re doing. Trying odd tricks like this is just confusing everybody!

11. The durian fruit is banned in some hotels, public transportation, and airports in Southeast Asia

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Have you ever heard of this awful fruit? Me neither. From the sounds of things, it doesn’t seem like we’ve been missing out on much! The durian fruit has a smell so repulsive that it’s actually been banned from some hotels, public transport and airports in Southeast Asia. The smell is said to be like raw sewage, and the scent is strong! Not only does it stink, but eating it has been known to cause stomach pain, wind, diarrhea, vomiting and even allergic reactions in some people. So, next time you’re cursing your colleague for cooking fish in the office microwave, thank your lucky stars it’s not durian fruit.

12. The world record for the largest scoop of ice cream weighed over 3,000 pounds

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Ice cream was invented in China. But, as usual, the Americans took things to the next level. In Cedarburg, Wisconsin, the largest scoop of ice cream ever was born. It was 3,010 pounds of strawberry heaven, measuring 5’6” tall! That’s taller than the average American woman. The width of this colossal scoop was 6’2”! It was made to honor Kemps' Dairy’s 100 year anniversary, but was then given away to Cedarburg Strawberry Festival visitors afterwards - completely free of charge! I wonder how this tasted?

13. Cashews come from a fruit called a cashew apple

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Cashew nuts are actually grown on trees, and they come from something called a cashew apple! These things look a bit like a bell pepper. But, despite the name, these apples aren’t technically fruits. Because cashew nuts are grown like this, you could argue that they’re not actually even a nut at all - but instead a drupe seed. In case you’re wondering, cashew apples are edible, but they do go off very quickly. Usually, there’s only one cashew nut per cashew apple. So, you can imagine how many must grow!

14. The heaviest cabbage ever recorded weighed over 138 pounds

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In 2012, the Alaska State Fair saw the world's heaviest ever cabbage! The entry weighed in at 138.25 pounds! What’s astonishing about this cabbage is that it wasn’t even genetically modified, it was all completely natural. The man responsible for this monster cabbage was Scott Robb, who said he simply just had the right seed and cultivation techniques to make this happen. As you can imagine, he was extremely proud and almost paternal over his humongous creation. Although it looks like the cabbage ended up at a wildlife refuge.

15. Some ancient Romans used to use flamingo tongues as a delicacy

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Back in the 5th century CE, the cuisine in Rome wasn’t quite as delicious as it is today. Back then, if you were wealthy, one of the ultimate foods to indulge in was flamingo! But they didn’t just eat flamingo meat, that wasn’t nearly fancy enough. Instead, they tucked into flamingo brain and tongue. They saw these birds as highly valuable. In fact, Emperor Elagabalus even used them to sacrifice to the gods. At the time, this was a true marker of wealth and the gesture was one of the most grand gestures possible.

16. Carrots were originally purple and yellow, not orange

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Here I come with another food fact that will make you question your entire life. Well, carrots were naturally purple, white and yellow before they were ever orange. We’re talking over 1,000 years ago. The first carrots that we have any evidence of go back to Iranian Plateau and the Persian Empire, dated in the 10th century AD. If somebody from that era was to be given a carrot today, they’d be super confused! They ended up orange because of selective breeding and genetic mutation. So, our carrots are actually mutants.

17. The highest-grossing restaurant in the world earned over $70 million in 2019

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If you like the finer things in life, then you need to visit Tao Las Vegas. It’s located at the Venetian Resort Hotel Casino and ranks as the most successful restaurant ever! On average, it makes around $42,000,00 annually through sales. How do they do this? Well, it’s located in Las Vegas to start with, which generally attracts money! Plus, they’ve managed to target both the young and old, so they’ve got a constant stream of customers. Their food is amazing and so are the drinks! In fact, 75% of revenue comes from their impressive cocktails.

18. Coca-Cola used to contain trace amounts of cocaine until 1929

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You’ve probably heard this before, right? I had too, but I always thought it was a myth. Well, here’s the truth! The substance that used to be in Coca-Cola was actually coca leaf extract. This leaf is also where cocaine comes from, but cocaine itself is a highly concentrated substance and wasn’t directly included in the ingredients. Nowadays, Coca-Cola no longer contains this extract, because it’s actually illegal. It’s said to be a stimulant which can be compared to coffee. But, it has to have been banned for a reason, right?

19. Some people are allergic to water

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Can you believe that there are some unlucky people that are allergic to water? And the allergy is incurable! The condition is known as aquagenic urticaria. You can have treatment, but this only helps to manage to condition, the allergy is still there. Most people that suffer from this are told to avoid water as much as possible, but you can imagine that’s difficult when it comes to showering! Some of the unlucky ones even have a reaction when drinking water, such as swelling of their lips and the inside of their mouths.

20. Dipping sushi in soy sauce is considered incorrect in traditional Japanese culture

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Personally, I feel like soy sauce makes my overall sushi experience so much tastier! But, if you’re in Japan, be careful when you use this Westernised combination. Actually, putting soy sauce on any kind of rice in Japan is considered to be rude! What the Japanese do instead is dip the fish only in the soy sauce, it’s not good etiquette to dip the whole sushi in there. This is because the rice has already been flavoured, and they see this as tarnishing the flavours and is insulting to the chef.

21. The world's most expensive spice is saffron, which can cost more than gold

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Not only is saffron the most expensive spice in the world, but it even costs more than gold by weight! In fact, as prices have fluctuated over the years, it has in the past cost 3 times more than the price of gold. Maybe that $2,000 pizza should have sprinkled saffron on top instead of gold? The reason that it costs so much is the intensive labour that goes into harvesting it. Each saffron flower produces just three threads. Which means even just one ounce of saffron requires thousands of hand picked flowers!

22. The average American consumes around 23 pounds of pizza each year

 

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I don’t know about you, but this fact didn’t surprise me at all. Hey, pizza makes the world go round! What did surprise me is that Americans have actually outdone the Italians themselves when it comes to our pizza consumption. We eat around 46 slices of pizza each per year, equating to 23 pounds annually. When you compare this to Italy, they finish just over half as much as this each year. If you look at America as a whole, together, we’re munching through 350 slices of pizza every single second!

23. A single pineapple plant produces only one pineapple per year

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So, pineapple trees typically stay alive for around seven years. After two years of growing, the tree finally sprouts its first flower stalk which produces the delicious pineapple. After this, the tree is only able to produce just one fruit every year! They can only thrive in tropical climates, too, needing at least six solid hours of bright but indirect sunlight per day. If these conditions aren’t met, then tree won’t produce any pineapples at all! Overall, they’re a pretty high maintenance tree with not so much reward.

24. The world's largest omelette was made with over 145,000 eggs

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Sometimes, you’ve just got to question why? This entry was in the Guinness World Records, it seems to me like we’re running out of things to put in there! This gigantic omelette took a team of 55 people to make, so they all share the credit for the title 'world's largest omelette'. They used a whopping 145,000 eggs and 200 pounds of butter for the creation. It took a long time to cook as expected, finally being finished after 6 hours! Once finished, it weighed 14,225 pounds and was over 33 feet long!

25. One fast food burger contains the meat from up to one hundred different cows

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This fact really freaked me out. I don’t know about you, but the fact that when I eat one burger, that’s 100 different lives doesn’t sit right with me. On average, one cattle has around 43.5 cows. This means that one burger is responsible for wiping out 2.5 whole herds! Basically, what happens is the muscle tissue of the cows from the slaughter house is all just mashed up together at random. You can expect this from pretty much any fast food place or the patties you buy from the frozen section at the supermarket.

26. Nutmeg is a hallucinogen

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Nutmeg contains myristicin, which is a chemical compound with hallucinogenic effects. Of course, the normal amount of nutmeg that you’d usually consume is safe and doesn’t have enough to give you mind bending hallucinations. However, some people can abuse this and have larger doses. When this is done, it can be extremely dangerous, even causing psychosis in some people. The effects can completely take over you and usually last for up to two days. Of course, you’d also end up with stomach pain, nausea and vomiting.

27. Cheese is the most stolen food in the world

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Did you know the four percent of all cheese ends up being stolen? It’s the most commonly stolen food in the entire world! I mean, in no way do I condone thieves. But I have to say, they have good taste, cheese really is a gift from the gods. Not only is it delicious, but it’s much easier to steal compared to other items because it’s small, easily concealed and usually not tagged. Another reason thieves go for this dairy sensation is because it’s always going up in price, meaning it’s an easy product to cash in on.

28. White chocolate isn’t chocolate

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Technically speaking, white chocolate isn’t actually chocolate at all. This is because it contains absolutely no cocoa solids. What it does contain is cocoa butter, the amount of which is usually just the legal minimum of 20 percent. So, the remaining eighty percent of ingredients that make up your beloved white chocolate is pure sugar, fats and milk powder. Personally, this hasn’t put me off. I was never under the impression it was good for me anyway, all I can be sure about is that it’s delicious.

29. Bird saliva is high value and eaten in China

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There’s a dish known as bird’s nest that has been around for centuries. It’s popular in parts of Asia, especially in China, where it’s considered a delicacy. This dish is made from the hardened saliva of a bird, a swiftlet to be exact. In fact, not only is this an expensive dish, but it’s also used as a skincare product and given as a gift! Bottles of this stuff can sell for anywhere up to $75 at a time. The swiftlets nests usually require a lot of labour to get to, which is one of the reasons that it’s so costly.

30. Dynamite contains peanuts

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Peanut oil has many handy uses. It’s used in some medicines and has a number of health benefits! It’s good for your skin and also high in monounsaturated fats (that’s the good kind). The oil has been associated with lowering cholesterol and preventing heart disease. But, the uses of peanut oil don’t stop there. This natural ingredient is actually used when making dynamite! Glycerol can be made from the oil, which turns into nitroglycerin, which is one of the main ingredients found in dynamite.