We know that fruits, nuts and vegetables are highly recommended as part of a healthy diet, but often, we consume these foods without really knowing much about them. Here is a collection of interesting, strange, and fun facts about some common fruits, nuts and vegetables that you may be surprised to find out.
Bananas are actually an herb, not a fruit. It is in fact the world's largest herb, related to the orchid and lily families. The bananas are actually considered the berries of this giant herb.
Eating an apple is a more reliable method of staying awake than consuming a cup of coffee. The natural sugar in an apple is more potent than the caffeine in coffee.
Rice has more varieties than any other fruit or vegetable, nearly 15,000! Many countries have a few specific varieties of rice that cannot be found anywhere else. There are about 5,000 varieties of tomato, and 7,500 varieties of apples.
The cabbage contains almost as much water as watermelon. Watermelon is 92% water, cabbage is 90%. Carrots are not too far behind with a water content of 87%.
Peanuts are not nuts, they are part of the pea family. Because of this, they are prone to spoiling much faster than nuts, which is why they are typically found roasted. Peanut oil can be utilized to make nitroglycerin, a major component of dynamite.
Pumpkins are not a vegetable, they are a fruit. So are avocados.
Almonds are not nuts, they are considered to be a member of the peach family. In fact, they closely resemble peach pits; they are simply lacking a surrounding of fruit.
Darker green vegetables contain more vitamin C than lighter green vegetables.
Tomatoes are not a vegetable, they are a fruit. They were once considered a type of apple by France and Italy and used to be yellow, not orange or red.
A stalk of celery only contains 10 calories. The human body uses more calories digesting celery, and so celery is said to be a great snack, as it helps an individual to lose weight.
The hotter a chili pepper is, the healthier it it. This is because chili peppers contain capsaicin, which is what gives the chili pepper its heat. Capsaicin is also utilized to treat various ailments, such as arthritis, and to help lower blood cholesterol or the risk of prostrate cancer. Hotter chili peppers are also higher in vitamins.
Smaller chili peppers are usually hotter than larger chili peppers. Habanero and Scotch Bonnet chili peppers are some of the hottest chili peppers in the world.
Potato plants are grown from cutting up a potato into pieces and planting them in the ground. Each piece eventually grows into a separate potato plant.
Tofu, Miso Paste, Tempeh (a meat substitute), and Soy Sauce are all made from soybeans.
Bananas are known for potassium, but potassium is actually found in good quantities in most fruits and vegetables. The avocado has more than double the amount of potassium than a banana.
In an emergency, coconut water can be substituted for blood plasma, due to the fact that coconut water possesses the perfect PH level and is also sterile.
Carrots were originally red, purple, yellow or white. Orange carrots were not produced until the 16th century, when the Dutch cross bred yellow and red carrots to create the orange carrot, in honor of the the Dutch Royal Family, which was also known as the House of Orange.
Smaller zucchini is much more flavorful than larger zucchini. Refrigerated tomatoes will lose flavor and nutrients. They are best when stored at room temperature.
Never store onions and potatoes together. They both produce gases that when in close proximity to each other, cause both of them to spoil much faster.
When storing potatoes, placing an apple with them will help prevent the potatoes from sprouting. The apple helps to extract the moisture from the air, which directly affects sprouting. A sliced apple placed in a bag of potatoes will work better than a whole apple, but will spoil faster and will need to be replaced more often.
~ Fahad Munir
