Have you ever learned something that made you go- well, I definitely should have known that!

I recently learned that paprika comes from crushed red peppers. Which totally makes sense! I guess I had just never really thought about it before. I knew paprika was a delicious, beautiful, bright red spice that is used in so many dishes as a seasoning and garnish. But I’m not sure where my subconscious thought it came from. Paprika trees? A crushed paprika seed plant thing? Again, I don’t know that I actively ever thought about it. But now I know!

It makes me wonder what else I don’t know about food? I know it’s a lot! As someone who spends a lot of time in the kitchen, I’m always trying to learn more!

Here are some other facts that you might have already known, or that might make you go- huh! I didn’t know that!

• Coriander seed is actually cilantro! Just the seed part, instead of the stems and leaves.
• Raisins can work as effectively as performance enhancers as many commercial chews that are sold specifically for that purpose- let all your runner friends know ;).
• While you can buy brown, blue, green and speckled eggs, the insides are all completely the same. The shell is different but the flavor is not! That doesn’t mean it’s not super fun to eat from a blue speckled egg- because it totally is! I loved when we had chickens that laid a whole variety of eggs!
• The top most popular cereals are: Number One: Honey Nut Cheerios. Number Two: Cinnamon Toast Crunch. Number Three: Frosted Flakes.
• Wasabi is hard and expensive to make, so a lot of wasabi that is sold is actually just colored horseradish!
• One spaghetti noodle is called a spaghetto. I did not know this, but I feel this is crucial information.
• Pineapples can take 2-3 years to grow. I knew I loved pineapple, but now I really appreciate pineapple. I’ll have to really savor the next pineapple I eat.
• Australia grows fruit salad trees! Literally, a tree that has several different fruits growing on one single tree. The beauty of grafting technology.
• Pound cake is called such because it originally called for one pound each of 4 ingredients. While we don’t make it the same way now, it still kept its name!
• Fresh cranberries are super bouncy! Just toss them on the counter and watch them boing everywhere- or don’t, but imagine it because that’s a fun picture right there.
• Sesame Street’s Cookie Monster is well known for loving and devouring cookies. But did you know that the cookie bits you see flying everywhere are actually rice cakes? Yep- Cookie Monster actually chows down on rice cakes instead of real cookies!
• Nutmeg, taken in large doses, is actually a hallucinogen! Maybe that’s why eggnog is such a popular party food! I’m kidding, because you obviously need nutmeg in high doses for those kinds of effects, but still….. ;)
• Farm-raised salmon is dyed pink. Naturally caught salmon will have a pink hue due to the shrimp they consume, but farm fish have a different diet, making them white in color instead of that pretty pink we usually associate with salmon!
• Ketchup used to be used for medicinal purposes, as a treatment for diarrhea and indigestion. Wonder how that worked out…
• Did you know that cheese is the most stolen food in the world? 4% of cheese is stolen, and there’s even a black market for cheese! I love cheese, but…. This surprises me.

There are so many fun food facts to find out there! Which of these facts was your favorite? Do you have any random facts to add to our knowledge? Share with us below!

    Camille Hoffmann
    Weekly Newsletter Contributor since 2014
    Email the author! camille@dvo.com