Top 10 Strange Food Facts

Top 10 Strange Food Facts
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There are different types of nutritious and lip-smacking foods. Each fruit, vegetable and recipe has its own unique taste and history. There are also some interesting and bizarre facts associated with different cuisines and recipes. Here are some of the strangest food facts, including facts on yoghurt, vanilla, 7-Up and refried beans:

1. Yoghurt May Promote Weight Loss

Studies have shown that adding fat-free yoghurt to your diet can help burn fat. High levels of dietary calcium and protein content in low-fat dairy products can help promote weight. Yoghurt, a product of milk, has a very high content of dietary calcium and so it may help reduce weight gain. According to the International Journal of Obesity, a research was conducted on 34 healthy obese adults. Of the 34 participants, those who ate three servings of fat-free yoghurt shed more than 14 pounds, whereas those who ate one serving of yoghurt lost 11 pounds. The test subjects also lost 81 per cent fat in the stomach.

2. Hot Chocolate: Ancient Mayan Recipe?

Everyone loves to drink delicious hot chocolate. But did you know that the origin of hot chocolate dates back to 5th century AD? Yes, ancient Mayans prepared a very strange concoction from cocoa beans, chili peppers, cornmeal, spices and water. But the mixture was not “hot”, and tasted bitter and spicy unlike today’s hot chocolate.

3. Addictive Vanilla

If you go through the pages of ancient medicinal books, you will find that vanilla was considered to be good against all kinds of fever and was also known to be an aphrodisiac. There is no scientific evidence to prove such claims, however research has shown that vanilla can be mildly addictive as it increases the adrenaline and epinephrine levels in the human body.

4. 7-Up: A Cure for Hangovers?

This is one of the strangest food facts of the top 10 list. Your favorite drink 7-Up was marketed as a cure for hangovers! It was first introduced few weeks before the Wall Street crash of 1929 and was originally named “Bib Label Lithiated Lemon-Lime Soda”. It contained the main ingredient lithium citrate, which was mainly used as a mood stabilizing drug. Soon the name was changed to 7-Up, but the main ingredient stayed for more than two decades. Interestingly, the peculiar name 7-UP was actually the atomic mass of lithium (7). Weird!!

5. Are Refried Beans Really “RE-FRIED?”

The mouth-watering refried beans are certainly not fried twice. They are usually served as a side-dish with Mexican meals

Refried Beans

and are prepared from pinto beans in the US. However, the phrase “re-fried beans” is a mistranslation of the Spanish frijoles refrito. If translated in English, it would well mean fried beans since the prefix re- implies “very” or “well” in Spanish, whereas in English it means repetition.

6. The Strawberry Flavor in Your Ice Cream Contains 50 Different Chemicals:

Strawberry Ice Cream

Nature cannot be imitated, and this is the best example. Just to recreate the flavor of “strawberry”, some fast food companies add 50 different chemicals including benzyl isobutyrate, phenythyl alcohol, amyl acetate, mint and cognac. So, the next time you consume strawberry flavored ice creams, milkshakes or desserts, do remember the recipe.

7. Cheese Products Contain Less than 51 percent Cheese:

This is certainly one of the cheesiest food facts of the top 10 strange foods list. Pasteurized processed cheese products are composed of less than 51 percent of cheese. The remaining ingredients are just emulsifiers and flavorings that give the tangy cheese flavor. Most cheese products also use citric acid and a stabilizer extracted from seaweeds called carrageenan. The FDA has strict regulations on cheese and hence labels it based on the following criteria:

  • Pasteurized process cheese product: contains less than 51 percent of cheese
  • Pasteurized process cheese food: contains minimum 51 percent of cheese
  • Pasteurized process cheese: 100 percent cheese

8. Frozen or Fresh fruits and veggies: Which One’s Healthier?

There’s no doubt that tree-ripened peaches and peas are best for consumption, but frozen ones can be healthier. Fresh fruits and vegetables are picked before they ripen to prevent them from rotting. This interrupts the development of key nutrients. In case of frozen foods, the fruits or vegetables are first fully ripened before they are picked. There’s no worry of getting decayed since they are immediately frozen. Hence all vitamins and antioxidants stay intact. So the next time you buy fruits choose frozen ones.

9. Floating Egg=Rotten Egg!

The best way to test whether an egg has gone bad is to float it in water. When you keep an egg for a longer duration, the inside portion of the egg starts to decompose and builds gases. Hence it floats. A fresh egg will not float, but lie at the bottom of the glass of water. So, if you have old eggs in your kitchen better carry out this small test before breaking the shell.

10. Coconut Water Can Be Used as a Substitute for Blood Plasma

While there so many strange food facts encountered in this article, this one’s quite interesting. Coconut water is cool, sterile and has an ideal pH level. It is easily absorbed by the body and does not harm red blood cells. Some studies suggest that coconut water can be an ideal replacement for blood plasma in emergencies. The electrolytic level of coconut water has the same balance as we have in our body. Here it would be important to note that coconut water should not be confused with coconut milk.

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