The various meals we prepare throughout our lives are made up of familiar ingredients. We know what they look like and what they will taste like once cooked. However, these strange food facts gathered from Reddit seem to suggest otherwise, revealing things we didn’t know before. Here they are!
Red Bananas Exist
Red bananas are a natural variety of the banana plant. They are naturally occurring cultivars, and carotenoids are pigments that contribute to their color. These strange food facts are particularly interesting because red bananas are commonly grow in tropical and subtropical regions, including countries such as India and Malaysia. A reply from user iamnemore mentioned: “They are ripe when they get that color. I had them grow at my old house and are delicious.”
The Cross Section of a Nutmeg
Nutmeg is commonly used in cooking to add a warm, sweet, and woody flavor to both sweet and savory dishes. One of these strange food facts is that the whole nutmeg seed looks quite different when viewed in cross-section. It is usually grated over food, while a reply from Reddit user DeuceDropper420 mentioned that it looked “psychedelic.”
Rainbow-Colored Carrots
Carrots can grow in various colors due to the presence of natural pigments and genetics, as well as their evolution. These strange food facts show that the familiar orange carrot is only one of several naturally occurring varieties. A reply from user TiPIanoNeIDeretano expressed: “There are some subtle differences in taste but you can only really feel them if you eat them raw. Otherwise the taste is identical.”
Genetic and Environmental Factors In a Pepper
The ripeness of a pepper depends on genetic and environmental factors, as well as how the plant is treated while growing. Among these strange food facts, one of the most interesting is that a pepper’s final color is largely determined by its genetic and stage of ripeness. A joking reply from user TannedCroissant expressed: “That’s an opportunity to trick kids into eating healthy food. Or also adults.”
The Head of Garlic Doesn’t Always Come Cut
Reddit user GoldenChinchilla got a surprise when opening this head of garlic while preparing to cook. Instead of finding separate cloves, he discovered that it had formed into a single, solid piece, making this one of the more unusual strange food facts featured here. A reply from user Siri_8472 noted that the home-grown garlic can have a stronger flavor than store-bought garlic, describing it as sharp, spicy, and had sting.
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Cashews Grow From a Fruit
The cashew is a seed that develops on the outside of the cashew apple, and it looks like the one in the image. In comparison, they grew different from others since it grows on the outside rather than the inside. This unusual arrangement is one of the strange food facts that can make familiar foods look surprisingly different in nature. A reply from user [borrado] noted: “Cashews are native to northeast Brazil, where you can find the largest cashew tree on earth, the Pirangui cashew tree, that covers an area of 81,000 square feet.”
Margherita Pizza Is Named After a Queen
The Margherita pizza is named after Queen Margherita of Savoy according to a traditional story. This folktale expressed that when the Queen’s 1889 visit to Naples, Italy, alongside her husband King Umberto I, the famous local pizza maker Raffaele Esposito created a pizza for her featuring the colors of the Italian flag: Red for the tomato, white for the mozzarella, and green for the basil. This story is among the strange food facts associated with history.
Wild Banana
Wild bananas can contain large, hard seeds because many wild varieties reproduce through seeds rather than seedless fruit commonly found in cultivated bananas. These strange food facts help explain why wild bananas can look so different from the bananas most people buy at supermarkets. A reply from user [borrado] mentioned: “I’ve had a banana with seeds and it didn’t taste different, but it was a nasty texture. The seeds were not like these, they were similar but still would not recommend.”
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Boba Pizza From Domino’s
This is a pizza from Domino’s, one of the most well-known pizza chains in the world, but at this location in Taiwan, they sell “Boba Pizza.” This fast food dish consists of a cheese pizza topped with brown sugar tapioca pearls, white mochi balls, and honey, making it one of the more surprising strange food facts in this collection. A reply from user sandefurd mentioned: “Like flavor profile sounds fine but that’s like trying to eat bread and gum at the same time.”
Chocolate Fruit
Reddit user Disastrous-Union7324 revealed the fruit that contains the cacao beans used to make the chocolate consumed by millions of people around the world. One of these strange food facts is that cacao fruit can change color as it ripens, with some varieties turning yellow when mature. A reply from user DiscoverChoc mentioned: “If this cacao comes from Ecuador, the chances of it containing a significant percentage of Criollo genetics is much lower than if it were harvested in Nicaragua or Colombia.”
Vacuum Seal Watermelon
Reddit user malogra discovered that when you put watermelon in a vacuum-sealed bag, all the juices compressed, and the air pockets in the fruit get sucked out and concentrates the juices. He revealed that the process makes those pieces sweeter and they get a deep vibrant color, as in the image above. A reply from user Handburn expressed: “Throw in some balsamic and oil on it and you got yourself a stew salad.”
Fruit Is Really Cheap in Ecuador
One of the reasons fruit is inexpensive in Ecuador is its location on the equator, which allows for year-round agricultural production due to the absence of extreme seasons. A joking reply from Reddit user [borrado] mentioned: “I have never in my life seen a net full of pineapples. I have to say I am envious right now.”
Conclusion
The fruits, foods, and ingredients that surround us in our daily cooking can be stranger than we thought. Their color, texture, and flavor can vary depending on the country where they were purchased or the stage of ripeness when they were purchased. Surprisingly, some of these variations also alter the final flavor of the dish you prepare.
