40 Random Food Facts That I Haven't Been Able To Stop Thinking About Since I Learned Them
I'll never look at a Trader Joe's banana the same way again.
1. Cilantro and coriander are the same thing.
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They're just two different names to describe the same plant. (There are also coriander seeds — which come from the plant too, and you can find them whole or ground up into spices.)
4. The all-time bestselling food items at Costco are rotisserie chicken, bacon, and food court hot dogs.
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Prices of the hot dogs ($1.50) and chicken ($4.99) haven't changed since they were introduced more than a decade ago. (Also, the only other thing that Costco sells *more* of than these? Toilet paper.)
5. The cheapest item at Trader Joe's is bananas. They cost 19 cents each — and the reason why is a little dark.

An episode of Inside Trader Joe’s revealed that TJ's used to sell bananas by the pound back in the day. They were packaged in bags of four or five, so if you wanted less than that, you were out of luck.
But 13 years ago, company CEO Dan Bane was visiting a TJ's — and he saw a much older woman buying fruit. “I asked her, ‘Ma’am, if you don’t mind me asking, I saw you looking at the bananas but you didn’t put anything in your cart,'” Bane said. “And she says to me, ‘Sonny, I may not live to that fourth banana.'”
Bane said they decided the very next day that Trader Joe’s would sell individual bananas. They priced them at 19 cents each, and they’ve been that way ever since.
6. Trader Joe's employees use a bell system to communicate with each other because higher-ups didn't like the way P.A. announcements sounded at other grocery stores.
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According to the Inside Trader Joe's podcast: One bell means someone is being asked to open another register. Two bells mean a customer has a question and someone needs to come to the checkout to answer it. Three bells mean a manager is being summoned.
8. And this is how cranberries grow:

9. A few years ago, Butterfinger changed its entire recipe.

10. Glass Gem corn! It exists.
Harvested our first corn of this season. I’m blown away!!!
Oklahoma farmer Carl Barnes spent years breeding the colorful corn as a way to reconnect with his heritage.
11. Elephant garlic exists, too. 👀

12. Allspice isn't a mix of other spices.

Although it smells like nutmeg and cinnamon, Allspice is actually a fruit that's picked, dried, and sold either as whole "berries" or ground up into its own spice.
13. But chili powder *is* a mix of other spices.
It's not just chili peppers. Chili powder also typically includes spices like cumin, onion powder, and oregano — plus garlic and salt.
14. McDonald's fries were cooked in beef fat until 1990.
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But in an effort to make them seem healthier, they're now cooked in vegetable oil.
15. And in France, McDonald's offers thick-cut potato wedges — in addition to the regular fries.

You get to pick between the two for your side, and they're served with a "creamy deluxe" sauce. It's kind of like a creamier mayo with chives in it.
Read more: Here's How French McDonald's Are Different From American Ones
16. Jam is made with fruit — and jelly is made with fruit juice.

Jam is made with fruit, sugar, and often pectin (a thickener). Jelly is made with fruit juice, sugar, and pectin. Another way to remember the difference? Jam is chunky (it'll have mashed fruit); jelly is smooth.
17. Fruity Pebbles are just grains of white rice that have been flattened and puffed up again.
With some coloring and flavoring added.
18. Pomegranates grow on trees.

They're so big that I think at first I assumed they... grew underground?? IDK IDK.
19. Asparagus grows straight outta the ground.

All varieties: green, white, purple.
20. On Sesame Street, Cookie Monster's cookies are actually painted rice cakes.

That's because the grease from the chocolate and oil in real cookies could damage the puppets.
21. Rhubarb leaves are poisonous in large doses.

The raw leaves contain oxalic acid, among other things. And if you eat a ton of them, it can be lethal.
23. The same guy invented Cool Whip, Pop Rocks, and Tang.

Minnesotan William A. Mitchell = a busy dude!
24. A chipotle pepper is just a dried and smoked jalapeño.

And an ancho chile is a dried and smoked poblano.
25. European chocolate generally tastes better than U.S. chocolate because it's required by law to have more milk fats and dry milk solids.

In Europe, chocolate is required to have a minimum of at least 14% dry milk solids. In the U.S., the minimum is 12%. European chocolate is also slightly richer because it's required to have at least 3.5% milk fat. In the US, the minimum is 3.39%.
Read more: I Just Learned Why European Chocolate Tastes So Different Than American Chocolate
27. Mahogany cake was America's first chocolate cake — though it's been largely forgotten since.

Dating back to the 1800s, it's America's first chocolate cake on record. Early versions used ermine frosting, a whipped buttercream that was the icing of choice in the US before cream cheese frosting came along.
28. A single spaghetti noodle is called a spaghetto.
29. Too much nutmeg can get you high.

It contains myristicin, a compound that has hallucinatory qualities — and bad side effects — if ingested in very large doses. (Don't try it, obvs.)
30. Paprika is made of ground up red bell peppers.

To make paprika, they're chopped, dried, and ground. And while they're typically red bell peppers, paprika can be made from other types of peppers too — depending on the variety. (Smoked, sweet, etc.) Watch a video of how to make homemade paprika here.
31. Reese's Pieces have a different filling than Reese's Peanut Butter Cups.
The filling of Reese's Pieces has a slightly different formula and consistency. Also, the color distribution of the Pieces is preset: A bag or box will be approximately 50% orange, 25% brown, and 25% yellow.
32. A few years ago, Nabisco redesigned its famous animal crackers box after PETA flagged it.

The new design uncages the animals and puts them in the wild.
33. Pineapples can take two to three years to grow.

It's a looong process. The next time you grab one at the grocery store, think about how far the thing has come!
34. It can take at least three years for a vanilla plant to produce its first vanilla bean.

Real vanilla is incredibly labor-intensive to produce. When the flowers finally do bloom, they stay open for only one day and have to be pollinated within 12 hours.
35. Jelly Belly is one of the few jelly bean companies that flavors both the inside *and* the outside of the bean.
This results in a more intense flavor — because jelly beans are typically only flavored on one or the other. Also, of the 100+ flavors that Jelly Belly makes, the most popular include: Very Cherry, Licorice, Buttered Popcorn, and Sizzling Cinnamon.
37. Brussels sprouts, kale, broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, and kohlrabi all come from the same plant.

Brassica oleracea was selectively bred over hundreds of years to create dozens of very different veggies.
38. One of the most bizarre food-related disasters in history was the Great Molasses Flood in Boston.
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In 1919, a storage tank that contained more than 2 million gallons of molasses exploded. It flooded Boston streets, crushed buildings, and killed 21 people and injured 150 more.
39. Out of all the popular alcoholic drinks, red wine makes you the sleepiest.

That's according to a study by British Medical Journal, which surveyed 29,000 people about how they felt (energized, relaxed, sexy, confident, tired, aggressive, etc) after drinking various types of alcohol.
40. Tootsie Rolls start out as gigantic 13-pound logs that are then shaped down to their mini size.

And they're still made using their original recipe from 1896.