More Fun Food Facts – 12/28/24

I’ve kind of taken a bit of break from the kitchen lately. Not necessarily intentional, but that’s just how things have worked out. But have no fear. There is always something fun to learn about the foods we eat. Today, I am going to share some more fun food facts. I love learning new things. I hope you do too. None of these are set in stone, mind you, but they are least worthy of thought and fun to think about. 🙂

1. Bananas are actually berries, but strawberries are not. HUH????? What???? Berries, by definition, have their seeds on the inside, and you can see just by looking at a strawberry that their seeds are on the outside. However, the seeds in a banana are so tiny we don’t really notice them, but they are there – putting them firmly in the ‘berry’ family! A true berry is a fleshy fruit formed from the ovary of a single flower, with a seed or seeds embedded on the inside of the flesh. So botanically speaking, strawberries don’t meet the definition of a berry, but bananas do. These are a few other surprising berries: grapes, avocados, kiwis, currants, tomatoes, cucumbers, aubergines and pomegranates.

2. Almonds are seeds. Though we all call them nuts, almonds are actually, botanically seeds. They are called seeds because the seed of a fruit is called a drupe, which has a fleshy outer layer and a hard shell enclosing the edible seed inside; making almonds not a true nut, but were refer to them as nuts due to their taste and texture. So, sometimes you feel like a nut, and sometimes you don’t.

3. Peanut butter glows in the dark. It’s not because of little green men, but because of the chemicals called phenols that absorb UV light and re-emit it as a green glow. This effect is called delayed fluorescence. The process of heating and crushing peanuts to make peanut butter releases the phenols that cause the glowing effect. Peanut butter glows particularly well because of this process. To make peanut butter glow in the dark, you can: 1) Observe the peanut butter glowing green; 2) Turn off the lights and go into a dark room; or 3) Shine a UV flashlight on the peanut butter.

4. Pink margarine. I am a BUTTER person and always have been. I am not a margarine person, but now I am really NOT going to eat margarine. Margarine was created in 1869, as a cheaper alternative to butter. It was called “oleomargarine”. I remember my mother calling it oleo too. But margarine posed a financial threat to the dairy industry, so they dairy farmers concocted a colorful scheme to sway people back to using real butter, instead of using “oleomargarine”. They colored it pink. For a while, the state of New Hampshire mandated that margarine be tinted pink. Sellers of non-pink margarine could face a fine of $100 or sixty days in prison.

5. Cranberries add more than a bounce to your step. They actually can bounce themselves. Every cranberry contains four air pockets, which is why they float when farmers flood bogs to harvest them. The air pockets also make raw cranberries bounce when they are dropped on a hard surface–a good indicator of whether they are fresh.

I don’t know about all of you, but I actually have a lot of fun with these “fun food facts” posts. I learn so many new things all the time. Who knew? Hopefully we all do now. 🙂 Stay tuned. I am sure there will be plenty more fun food facts coming your way again soon.

Have a great day and make everyday great. Stay safe and stay well. ‘Til next time.