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Food Facts P4

 

• Instant coffee was invented by Japanese American chemist Satori Kato of Chicago in 1901.

• Instant noodles (modern version), or ramen, were invented by Momofuku Ando in 1958 after watching his wife prepare tempura; dunking freshly cooked noodles in chicken soup before flash-frying them in palm oil would enable water to leach out while preserving the flavor of the broth. From here, they would be ready to eat after just a few minutes in boiling water.

• ketchup was originally a fish sauce originating in the orient. Two words from the Fujian region of China were used to describe a fish brine / sauce and a tomato sauce – ke-tsap and kio-chiap.

• Kopi Luwa from Indonesia is the world’s costliest coffee, at USD$700 a kilogram, thanks to a unique taste and aroma enhanced by the digestive system of droppings of palm civets, nocturnal tree-climbing creatures about the size of a large house cat, which eats ripe robusta coffee cherries for treats. The coffee beans, which are found inside of the cherries, remain intact after passing through the animal. Plantation workers track them and scoop their precious poop.

• lemon slices have been served with fish since the Middle Ages, when people believed that the fruit’s juice would dissolve any bones accidentally swallowed.

• lemons contain more sugar than strawberries.

• lemons contain more sugar than strawberries.

• peanuts are one of the ingredients in dynamite.

• pear is a fruit that ripens from the inside out.

• Pepsi-Cola was invented by Caleb Bradham in 1898. Originally called Brad’s Drink, the beverage was first marketed as a digestive aid and energy booster. It was renamed Pepsi-Cola because of its pepsin and kola nut content.

• percentage alcohol in a bottle of liquor is estimated by dividing the proof by two.

• pineapple is the international symbol of hospitality.

• pizza originated in the early 1700′s in Naples, Italy.

• pizza toppings of squid are the most popular variety in Japan.

• Popsicle were invented by an 11 year old, Frank Epperson when he left his soda water drink with a stirring stick overnight on his porch.

• potato crisps were invented by a North American Indian called George Crum in 1853.

• pound cake was so named because of its original proportions of 1 lb (500g) each of butter, sugar, and flour.

• puffed grain were invented by Alexander Anderson in 1902. Unlike popcorn, a type of corn that naturally pops or puffs up with heat, puffed cereal or snacks are formed by exploding whole grain kernels under high pressure and steam.

• raisin in a glass of champagne will keep floating to the top and sinking to the bottom.

• refried beans aren’t really what they seem. Although their name seems like a reasonable translation of Spanish frijoles refritos, the fact is that these beans aren’t fried twice. In Spanish, refritos literally means well-fried, not re-fried.

• rice paper does not contain one grain of rice - its made from either Rice straw, Bamboo, Hemp, Mulberry leaves, Wingceltis or Gampi.

• Ringo Starr appeared in a Japanese advertisement for apple sauce. Ironically his name means apple sauce in Japanese.

• salary is derived from salarium (Latin) or soldier’s allowance for the purchase of salt.

• sandwiches are named after John Montagu, the Fourth Earl of Sandwich (1718-92), for whom beef was placed between 2 sliced pieces of bread so that he could stay at the gambling table without interruptions for meals.

• shredded wheat was the first breakfast cereal to ever be produced.

• sliced bread was introduced by Otto Frederick Rohwedder who invented the bread slicer, which he started working on in 1912. At first, Rohwedder came up with the idea of a device that held the slices together with hat pins (not a success). In 1928, he designed a machine 1.52m long by 0.90m high that sliced and wrapped the bread in waxed paper to prevent the sliced bread from going stale. On July 7, 1928, the first loaves of sliced bread were made by the near bankrupt baker Frank Bench.

• soup has its origin as a word from ‘sop’ or ‘sup’, meaning the slice of bread on which the broth was poured.

• soy flour and soya flour are richer in calcium and iron than wheat flour, gluten-free and high in protein.

• soy flour is ground from raw soybeans; soya flour from lightly toasted soybeans.

• spilling salt is considered good luck in Japan.

• strawberries are the only fruit which has its seeds on its outer skin.

• swiss cheese ferments with bacteria generating gas which bubbles through the cheese leaving holes; cheese-makers call them eyes.

• tea strengthens bones because isoflavonoid chemicals in tea may have a weak estrogenic effect, reducing bone deterioration and osteoporosis risk.

• ten gallon hats only hold about 6 pints or 2.8 Liters.

• thyme’s most active ingredient is thymol, the antibacterial ingredient found in mouthwashes and Vicks Vaporub.
• TIPS were given by people in coffee houses in the 18th century who wanted good service and better seating by putting money in a tin labelled To Insure Prompt Service.

• toasters for bread using electricity were invented by Crompton and Company, Leeds, England in 1893; the first automatic pop-up electric toaster was designed in 1919 by Charles Strite.

• toasting bread began as a method of prolonging the life of bread and was a very common activity in Roman times, ‘tostum’ is the latin word for scorching or burning.

• tomato used to be considered poisonous.

• Tootsie Rolls were the first wrapped penny candy in America.

• Orange Juice: Naturally contains a small amount of alcohol.

• Strawberries: Have more vitamin C than oranges.

• Vinegar: Melts pearls (leave a comment if you try this).

• London Broil: Is not a cut of beef but a method of cooking.

• Avocados: Have more protein than any other fruit and are poisonous to birds.

• traditional italian food is an anagram of radiation, toil, fat and oil.

• TV dinners were invented by Gerry Thomas and introduced in 1954 by his Omaha-based CA Swanson & Sons featuring roast turkey with stuffing and gravy, sweet potatoes and peas, selling for 98 cents.

• V-8 Juice contains tomato, spinach, celery, carrot, beet, lettuce, watercress and parlsey juice.

• Vegemite is an Australian icon which was developed in 1922 by Dr. Cyril Callister. He took used brewer’s yeast and blended the yeast extract with ingredients like celery, onion, salt, and a few secret ingredients to make this paste rich in B vitamins; it was developed for the Fred Walker Company which is now Kraft Foods.

• Wheaties were discovered by accident when in 1921, a health clinician in Minneapolis was mixing a batch of bran gruel for his patients when he spilled some of the mix on a hot stove. The gruel crackled and sizzled into a crisp flake. Tasting the very first Wheaties prototype, he decided this delicious accident had promise and took the crisped gruel to the people at the Washburn Crosby Company (later known as General Mills).

• white chocolate is not a true chocolate because it contains no chocolate liquor, instead its made of sugar, cocoa butter, milk solids, lecithin and vanilla.

• white shelled eggs are produced by hens with white feathers and earlobes while brown eggs are produced by hens with red feathers and earlobes; the colour has no relationship to the nutritional quality or taste of the eggs.

• Wrigley’s gum was the first product to have a bar code.

• xerophagy is the eating of dry food, a form of fasting that some members of the early Christian Church practiced.

• yelling for 8 years, 7 months and 6 days produces enough sound energy to heat one cup of coffee.

• zymology or zymurgy is the science or study of the processes of fermentation.

• Aunt Jemima pancake flour, invented in 1889, was the first ready-mix food to be sold commercially.

• Did you know that there are coffee flavored PEZ?

• Nutmeg is extremely poisonous if injected intravenously.

• Goulash, a beef soup, originated in Hungary in the 9th century AD.

• Haggis, the national dish of Scotland: take the heart, liver, lungs, and small intestine of a calf or sheep, boil them in the stomach of the animal, season with salt, pepper and onions, add suet and oatmeal. Enjoy!

• beer is a popular ingredient in batter for deep fried foods since the protein in beer provides browning and produces a light, crisp, dry batter when cooked.

• beer of 375mL has fewer calories than two slices of bread and contains no fat.

• birds eat half their own body weight in food each day! So, why do people say that a poor eater eats like a bird?

• biscuit is a word derived from Latin via Middle French and means twice cooked.

• black pepper is the most popular spice in the world.

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