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A lot of people don’t exactly know what they’re doing in the kitchen. They might be able to follow a recipe or make a few simple dishes that require minimal effort, but truly understanding ingredients and how to make a dish from scratch is an art that takes practice. So if you are interested in leveling up your culinary skills, you’ve come to the right place, pandas!
Foodies on Threads have recently been revealing the most surprising facts they know about food and cooking. From information about product labels in stores to facts about how certain spices end up on our tables, we hope that this list teaches you something new. Enjoy scrolling through these fun facts, and be sure to upvote the ones that you’ll keep in mind when it’s time to make dinner!
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#1
Breakfast is not the most important meal of the day. In 1944, General Foods coined the phrase simply to sell more of its Grape Nuts cereal.
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#2
Add some squares of dark chocolate to your tomato sauce and the flavor hits a completely different level!
Likewise add a tsp of instant coffee to your brownie batter…same thing!
Shelli Aderman 28 minutes ago
My go to chocolate cake recipe has a cup of coffee in it. SO yum!
#4
You aren’t allergic to MSG. That’s all junk science. It is safe to eat in moderation for almost everyone.
#5
The way asparagus grows looks and feels like someone is pranking me about the way asparagus grows.
#6
Restaurants use 100x more butter and sugar then you could ever imagine.
#7
Ginger makes lemon more lemony. Add sour cream to cake to make it moister. I use mayo on grilled cheese instead of butter.
LakotaWolf (she/her) 28 minutes ago
Ginger is also brilliant for nausea. I get nausea when I have migraines, and I keep lots of ginger chews on-hand! XD It's become something I enjoy quite a bit as a side effect, so I love candied ginger and other gingery treats as well XD
#8
Sugar free tic tacs are 95% sugar, but can be labeled sugar free because they have less than 1 gram of sugar per serving.
#9
Listeria occurs in a higher rate in bagged salad than lunch meat, but people don’t talk about that with pregnant women 🤷🏼♀️
#10
Broccoli, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts, cabbage, and kale are all the same plant, just bred to emphasize different parts of it.
#11
You don't have to "wash" chicken
Trust me, your favorite restaurant doesnt.
That med rare steak or prime rib isn't leaking "blood"
Pork is perfectly ok
Boneless wings are nuggets.
#12
Brussel sprouts really were worse when we were younger. They’ve been bred to taste less bitter.
Red delicious apples used to taste delicious but were bred to withstand travel. They are now beautifully red, waxy, and terrible.
Corn looks nothing like its wild ancestor. I have no idea what made us think it would be great to cultivate, but very glad we did.
LakotaWolf (she/her) 25 minutes ago
I absolutely love Brussel sprouts. I even like them raw. There's nothing quite like that crunch! I am sad about modern red apples, though.
#13
Paprika is just dried red bell peppers.
Nikki Sevven 8 minutes ago
If you have a dehydrator, you can make all kinds of vegetable powders. Tomato powder is awesome, as is roasted onion powder. (Note: The dehydrator's fan should NOT be at the bottom of the appliance where moisture can drip onto it, but on top.)
#14
Sushi grade fish is not a regulated term and essentially means nothing. It’s just a marketing tactic.
Becky Samuel 1 hour ago
Maybe in the USA, but in the EU and UK there are strict regulations on fish that is to be served raw, including a requirement for it to be flash frozen to ki ll parasites.
#15
Figs aren't vegan.
Extra info:
Certain figs are not considered vegan by strict standards because their pollination requires a female fig wasp to enter the fruit, get trapped, pass away inside, and have her body digested by the fig's enzymes.
Robert van Deventer 1 hour ago
They are vegan. The confusion stems from the process of wasp pollination (the relationship between the Ficus tree and the fig wasp). When a female wasp enters a fig to lay her eggs, she often dies inside because the fig's internal structure is not designed for her to escape. Many people mistakenly believe this makes figs "non-vegan." There are two key reasons why figs remain standard for a vegan diet: Enzymatic Breakdown: The fig contains an enzyme called ficin, which breaks down the wasp's body completely, turning it into protein that the plant absorbs. The physical remains of the wasp are not present in the fruit you eat. Commercial Cultivation: Most figs consumed commercially (especially common varieties like the Black Mission or Kadota found in grocery stores) are self-pollinating and do not require the presence of a wasp to ripen.
#17
Jalapeños have more Vitamin C than oranges.
#18
There's this thing called Perpetual Stew where you start a giant pot of stew and keep adding to it as you're serving it so it never runs dry. Apparently, there has been a pot going somewhere in Europe for near 500 years.
#19
Meal times & meals (like oatmeal for breakfast, sandwich for lunch) are a social construct. There are no rules as to what time or what food you break your fast with.
#21
Rice is no longer good and should be tossed after 2 hours due to the bacteria that cannot be destroyed with reheating. Of course you can refrigerate within 2 hours and then it will be good for a few days.
#22
You should thaw meat in the fridge not in your sink or on the counter.
#24
Devilled eggs, at their simplest, are eggs, mixed with eggs and oil and stuffed in eggs.
#25
Biscuits and Gravy is just really wet flour served on really dry flour.
Robin Roper 1 hour ago
The photo of a British biscuit is a cookie in the US. In the US Biscuits and Gravy does not involve a cookie. Add some pork sausage to the gravy and yummy!
#26
Raw cookie dough is dangerous because of the raw flour, not the raw egg
#27
Just the way brussel sprouts grow.
#28
If you cook onions with a tiny bit of baking soda, they completely dissolve into the consistency of jelly within minutes and it is BRIGHT yellow. Like chicken-instant-ramen yellow. I love doing this and then making an omelette—it’s so oniony and good.
#30
Dr Kellogg originally made corn flakes to help people stop pleasuring themselves.
#32
Tomato plants can release a chemical so potent that it turns caterpillars into cannibals and the caterpillar will eat itself.
#33
Adding a dash of powdered mustard to any creamy cheesy sauce will make the sauce taste cheesier, while a dash of nutmeg will make the sauce creamier.
#34
Cheese that i used to make as a kid on a plate in the microwave hit way harder than majority of 5 star restaurant food.
#36
Milk does not do a body good. It was a marketing tactic because milk sales plummeted.
Robin Roper 1 hour ago
The saying is a marketing tactic but for the vast majority of people, milk is good for them. It's very healthy and is an excellent source of calcium, high-quality protein, and vitamin D.
#37
fun fact: every time someone puts garlic and onions into a pan everyone without fail says "ooo that smells good" not sure if its a curse or something medical 🤷🏼♀️
Nikki Sevven 1 minute ago
When I don't know what to cook, I start caramelizing onions. They invariably inspire me.
#38
Nutmeg is poisonous, it can lead to a type of intoxication; in larger quantities it can even cause organ failure. We just consume it in very small amounts, spread out through recipes, but as little as a tablespoon can be bad news.
#39
Potato salad at a picnic that makes people sick isn't the fault of the mayonnaise. The potatoes weren't cooled enough before being mixed, per science.
Mia Jones 21 minutes ago
What. This is just profoundly incorrect. Mixing the potatoes into the dressing while they’re still warm is the way to get the best possible flavor mix. You just have to cool the completed mix properly. Mix it while the potatoes are hot/ warm, put it in a shallow pan and into the fridge or freezer. You have, in general, FOUR HOURS to cool something like this down to safe levels. Why the hell would a hot potatoe touching mayonnaise or vinegar automatically become unsafe?
#40
Protein powders, vitamin supplements are NOT regulated. You can literally start selling anything and call it supplements... Regulations only come when their is a problem.
#45
that banana, the gros michel isn't even extinct. it's just easier to ship the Cavendish banana, which is what we have today. many of the old crops were wiped out by fungus but there are still some trees left here on earth.
#46
Letting a steak sit for a few minutes after cooking makes it juicier.
Becky Samuel 57 minutes ago
Letting a steak sit will not magic extra moisture or 'juice' into the meat. It will allow the muscle fibres to relax, which gives a less chewy mouth feel, and it gives a more even heat distribution.
#48
All sushi served in the US is frozen and thawed. It’s a regulation to reduce parasites. This might not apply to gas station sushi
#50
If you have a severe cockroach allergy you cannot drink pre ground coffee.
#51
Adding baking soda to your coffee either to the grounds or into your cup helps neutralize the acid and tones the bitterness down so you need less cream and sugar. The big help though is that will cause less GERD
#52
Organic does NOT mean pesticide free.
It just means that it’s grown without SYNTHETIC pesticides and fertilizers.
#53
So freezing and reheating bread actually does lower the glycemic index. It structurally changes enough to impact digestion. It's not a ton but it's still wild that happens. Also capers being a pickled flower bud has always seemed odd but less interesting.
#54
Parmesan Cheese isn’t vegetarian.
Oreos are vegan.
More info:
Traditional Parmesan (Parmigiano-Reggiano) is not vegetarian. To legally hold this name, it must be produced using animal rennet, an enzyme harvested from the fourth stomach of calves.
Most classic Oreo flavors do not contain any animal-derived ingredients, making them "accidentally vegan" on paper. However, the manufacturer does not classify them as strictly vegan due to the risk of cross-contact with milk on shared manufacturing equipment
#55
Potatoes are tomato plants that crosbred with another plant, causing it to focus on tubers instead of fruits. Also you can graft tomato stems onto potato root stock and get a plant that will produce hoth tubers and fruits, but both will be terrible from the split nutrients.
Also carrots do not seed until their second year.
#57
The harder a cheese is, the more readily it will emulsify into a sauce. That's why you need a roux to make cheddar cheese dip but alfredo sauce only requires parmigiano cheese, butter, and a little pasta water.
#58
If you put lemon juice into a pan before the garlic has a chance to cook down, it might turn blue.
#60
One that no one ever believes when I tell them - if you eat a few Skittles and a few m&ms together, it tastes just like a Tootsie Roll.
LakotaWolf (she/her) 19 minutes ago
I might be a rarity, but I've never liked Tootsie Rolls XD Which is funny, because I love taffy and I love chocolate.
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