Random Bizarre Food Facts That Will Make You Rethink Your Eating Habits (15 items)

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  (#2) Ranch dressing

  • Food

  If you love dipping just about anything into ranch dressing, then you should probably know that a lot of it contains some of the same stuff used to make sunscreen and paint. You wouldn't expect there to be titanium in your Ranch dressing, but it's in there. Titanium dioxide is used to whiten most ranch dressing, and it's also used to whiten things like sunscreen and paint. 

  Some studies have found that titanium dioxide may cause some toxicity in the brain, and has properties that are potentially cancerous. Titanium dioxide is also used in a lot of candy, mayonnaise, and cosmetics. It's used pretty regularly in lipstick and paper as well. 
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  (#1) The Popsicle Was Originally Invented By A Boy Who Was 11

  The Popsicle™ was invented by an 11-year-old boy in San Francisco in 1905. His name was Frank Epperson and he left a cup of powdered soda, water, and a stirring stick on the porch during a very cold winter. Epperson didn't remember the cup until after the cold weather had already frozen over his soda. When he discovered it the next morning, he did what any curious boy would do: he licked it. Thus, the Popsicle™ was invented.

  For eighteen years, Epperson sold the dessert around his neighborhood exclusively. He decided to expand his market in 1923 and debuted his popsicle at a park in Alameda, CA, and people loved it. He originally called it an "Epsicle," naming the food after his own stupid childhood mistake, but his kids called it "Pop's 'sicle," and they eventually convinced him to change the name to Popsicle™. 
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  (#7) Apple

  • Food

  The American apple was never meant to be eaten. It was brought over to Jamestown for one reason: cider. People loved cider. And because they loved it so much, they would have it with every meal (with some diluted glasses of cider for the kids, so that they wouldn't get too drunk at the dinner table). They drank cider mainly because it was safer to drink than any nearby water sources. So, most people grew their own apples. One man with 2,500 apple trees claimed that his trees were more valuable than 15,000 pounds of tobacco. This is how much people loved cider. 

  And then, Thomas Jefferson went to France where he was given "Ralls Benet" apple cuttings for him to grow in the US, which he then gave to a nursery in Virginia. The result was a "better" apple that people suddenly started just eating. It was nowhere near the sweetness of the apples you eat today. Japanese scientists crossed the Ralls Benet apple with the Red Delicious, and the result was what people call the popular "Fuji" apple.  
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  (#6) Wasabi

  The wasabi you know and love is a lie. Most wasabi you'll find is mostly horseradish, which is why it's so spicy. If you go to your local Japanese market, they should have some fresh Wasabi that you can buy and then grate up into a paste, using a special wasabi grater called an "oroshigane." It's actually quite difficult to find real wasabi in the states. It's extremely difficult to cultivate, making it rare and pretty darn expensive. 

  If you try it, it's not the crazy hit of spice that you're used to. Real wasabi has a much more muted herbal and radish flavor that adds to the sushi. It's definitely more of a texture-based taste than the nose explosion you're used to. If you can find the good stuff, give it a try. It's different. 
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  (#11) Every Second, McDonald's Sells 75 Burgers

  By the time you're done reading this, McDonald's will have sold at least 2,000 burgers. They sell a whopping 75 burgers every second. That's 4,500 per minute, which amounts to about 27,000 every hour, and 2.36 billion burgers every year. 

  Which is probably why they stopped counting.

  Every time you eat at McDonald's just make sure to remember that you are contributing to that number, and then look around you and realize that everyone in the same room as you is also contributing to that number. Think about this often. 
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  (#8) The Same Plant Gives You Broccoli, Brussel Sprouts, Kale And Other Superfoods

  The Brassica is a genus of plants that gives an incredible amount of foods that most kids don't like, such as cauliflower, broccoli, kale, brussel sprouts, cabbage, and collard greens (just to name a few). It's rich in vitamin C and contains some properties that can actually prevent cancer (sulforaphane, selenium, and 3’-diindolylmethane). 

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