25 Weirdest Food Facts That Will Make Your Jaw Drop

It's safe to say we know a bit about food here at ThePioneerWoman.com. Even being on this page means you're a fan of Ree Drummond's most popular recipes. So, it's no wonder you look to us for some of the best cooking tips, wholesome family dinner ideas and easy casseroles, or even a scrumptious batch of Cowboy Cookies for when you're craving something sweet (and chocolate-y!).

That's not to knock your culinary expertise, though. We're sure that you're just as savvy with kitchen gadgets as you are open to trying the weirdest food combinations. Regardless of how comfortable you are in the kitchen, there's always room for learning! That's why we've curated a list of the most mind-blowing facts about food. (Like, bananas are technically berries. Who knew?!) 🤯

Without further ado, read on for these outrageously fun food facts. And let us know which fact shocked you the most in the comments below!

Kiwi is actually pretty healthy.

We're not calling other fruits unhealthy, but kiwi can help your body process protein better.

One spaghetti noodle is called a spaghetto.

Hey, the more you know! Also: Why does this also double as a cute dog name?

Peppers have more vitamin C than oranges.

Maybe we should try swapping our morning orange juice for some... pepper juice? (Just kidding.)

Americans can thank Thomas Jefferson for their pasta addiction.

After his trip to Paris, he brought over a macaroni machine back to the United States. Funny enough, he also was the first person to introduce mac and cheese. (To Americans, more specifically.)

He also introduced broccoli to America.

As a regular gardener, he used his green thumb to bring broccoli and other vegetables from France.

You can revive stale bread.

You have two options: run it underwater, or heat it in the oven at 300-325 degrees Fahrenheit for six to seven minutes.

Strawberries aren't technically berries.

Seems a little ironic. But strawberries aren't actually considered berries because their seeds are on the outside. Berries are classified by only having seeds on the inside.

But... bananas are technically berries.

Yep. Botanically speaking, that is.

Decaf coffee still has caffeine.

Don't worry, though. There's only about 2 milligrams of caffeine in a cup of decaf coffee.

Margherita pizza was named for a queen.

Queen Margherita visited Naples in 1889 and asked for pizza as means to escape the "boring" fancy food she was used to eating. Turns out, she really enjoyed "pizza mozzarella," a pie topped with soft white cheese, tomatoes, and basil. The Margherita pizza was officially born.

Pumpkin pie is hundreds of years old.

The dessert was first introduced in 1621. We guess even our late relatives had good taste!

Oreos used to have a different name.

So, they were actually called "Oreo Biscuits" before later shortening to the famous name we all know today.

Cashews grow on... cashew apples.

What happens to the cashew apples? Well, you can eat them—but you'd probably be better off making them into a jam.

There are such things as fruit salad trees.

If you ever find yourself in Australia, make sure you try to spot a muti-graft tree that contains over six different types of fruit!

Spam is a mashup of the words "spice" and "ham."

We know it doesn't take a Ph.D to figure this fact out—we just thought it was cool.

Carrots actually come in many different colors.

Yeah, most carrots these days are orange. And though it might be hard to imagine it any other way, the original carrots (which were domesticated in Central Asia ca. 900 CE) were purple and yellow!

Beef and liver paste (squeezed from a tube) was the first meal eaten in space.

In April 1961, Yuri Alekseyevich Gagarin was the first person to eat in outer space ever when he orbited the earth on board the Vostok 1. He chose his meal because it was space-friendly. (And definitely not because it was appetizing. Ha.)

So, there's a reason why pound cake was given its name.

The original pound cake recipe had just four ingredients, each weighing a pound. Talk about taking things literally!

Dynamite is technically made out of peanuts.

Say what? Well, the oil in peanuts makes glycerol, which is sometimes used to make nitro-glycerine (a key ingredient of dynamite).

You can use cranberries as a bouncy ball when you're bored.

Okay, so maybe don't actually do that. But if you want to tell if your cranberries are fresh, you can toss them onto the counter. If they bounce back—you're good to go!

Tea bags were basically an accident.

Some may find it hard to imagine starting their day without the liquid, leafy wonder. Well, tea lovers: you can thank Thomas Sullivan, a New Yorker who sent out his tea samples in silk bags. His merchants—who didn't know Sullivan intended the bags' content to be emptied—threw the whole bag into a pot. So in 1908, the tea bag was accidentally born!

There's only one Froot Loop flavor.

Don't let the rainbow of colors confuse you: there are all, in fact, just one "Froot flavor!"

German chocolate cake didn't originate in Germany.

Rather, the first-ever published recipe for German chocolate cake can be traced back to a Texas homemaker in the '50s. The name itself is derived from Sam German, an American who created the baking chocolate bar for Baker's Chocolate Company (also known as "Baker's German's Sweet Chocolate") almost a century prior.

The fear of cooking is medically described as mageirocophobia.

If you can't get yourself to get cookin' in the kitchen, there might be a legitimate reason. Mageirocophobia is an official term that describes those who have a genuine fear of cooking (which can also stem from the fear of making mistakes).

A dentist is responsible for the creation of cotton candy.

You'd think dentists would want their patients to stay away from something so sugary. Well, when one dentist created something called "fairy floss" in 1897, it inspired another to create something similar, which was named cotton candy in 1921.