1. Dr. George Washington Carver’s (1864-1943) work resulted in the creation of more than 300 products from peanuts.
2. More on Carver, he was behind a lot of cotton-alternative crops and ways to prevent soil depletion as a result of repeated cotton plantings.
3. Oh also peanuts are legumes, not nuts.
4. And also almonds are seeds, not nuts. Technically they’re drupes that have seeds in them, but you know.
5. Coconuts are also drupes, so maybe think about that when you look at almonds and peanuts and coconuts.
Further Reading: What Are Coconuts? Are They Actually Nuts?
6.Wally Amos, the namesake of Famous Amos, was a talent agent whose clients loved his cookies.
7. Lyndon Johnson had a button installed on his desk so he could instantly get served Fresca. He also had buttons for coffee, tea, and Coca-Cola. Probably turned that thing into some kind of service keyboard by the end.
8. The potato originated in Peru. It was one of the first crops exported back to Europe after the Spanish conquered the Incan Empire.
9. Candy corn was originally called “Chicken Feed.” Something to keep in mind for those who hate candy corn we guess. Seems like people are almost never neutral on the subject.
10. Pringles aren’t actually potato chips. They’re made with ‘dehydrated processed potato’ and other ingredients like corn, rice, and wheat. They probably don’t like people knowing that.
11. Most of the wasabi consumed in America isn’t actually wasabi. By most we mean 99%.
12. That fake wasabi is actually just horseradish with food coloring.
13. Engineering students from Purdue University found that it took an average of 364 licks to get to the center of a Tootsie Pop. Feel free to test for yourselves if you need time to kill, though.
14. Tubes of pureed meat were among the first space meals.
15. Also you’re not allowed to eat crunchy things in space because crumbs can damage equipment.
16. Whether or not french fries are French or Belgian is under contention.
17. Since hamburgers are named after Hamburg, Germany; Americans renamed them liberty steaks for a while.
18. Arachibutyrophobia is the fear of being choked by peanut butter because it got stuck to the roof of your mouth. Which is completely different from choking on peanut butter because you’re allergic to it.
19. Pound cakes are named pound cakes because original recipes had one pound of butter, sugar, eggs, and flour.
20. Twinkies only have one actually preservative ingredient: sorbic acid. Almost everything else just happens to be an alternative that has a longer shelf life–like cellulose gum to replace fats or polysorbate 60 instead of traditional glycerides.
21. “Dorito” is derived from “little golden things,” mostly from the Spanish word for gold (oro) and adding an “-ito” suffix.
