Here Are Popular Food And Drink Items That Were Invented By Mistake (35 Pics)

One of the stories goes that Ruth Wakefield was baking chocolate cookies for her guests only to run out of powdered baker’s chocolate, so she decided to break up a Nestle’s semi-sweet chocolate bar. As some kitchen experiments do, it turned into a semi-disappointment as the chocolate pieces only melted slightly, retaining their shape. But the guests loved them and the next thing you know, her recipe was up in a Boston newspaper, increasing Nestle’s chocolate bar sales. The company later granted Ruth a lifetime supply of the chocolate from Andrew Nestle as a reward for printing her recipe on the chocolate bars.

As coffee is said to originate from Ethiopia, a centuries-old legend has it that a goat herder named Kaldi noticed that his goats would become very energetic and not sleep at night after eating the berries of this particular tree. He reported this to a local monastery and soon everyone was sipping on this stimulating drink that helped them stay up during long hours of evening prayers. Soon the coffee beans reached the Arabian peninsula. Fast-forward to today, you might be reaching out for a sip of this goodness this very moment.

An urban fairytale of how this snack was born is about Ignacio ‘Nacho’ Anaya Garcia, who was working in the kitchen in Piedras Negras (Coahuila state, Mexico) when a handful of US military wives from a nearby base passed by the restaurant for a snack. With the chef nowhere to be seen, he threw together some tortillas topped with cheese and jalapeños and named it Nachos especiales. That result became a now widely consumed dish and what would have been the 124th birthday of Nacho last year was even commemorated by a Google Doodle. Eventually, Nacho ended up opening his own restaurant.

According to one account, cheese puffs before we came to know them were actually food for animals! Although there are several versions of the story, in the 1930s, Edward Wilson, from a company in Wisconsin producing partially cooked animal feed, decided to taste the puffed mashed corn kernel himself and by adding some seasoning, realized that it was actually not that bad and could totally make a decent snack. Later, the founders of Flakall Corporation that he worked for patented the product that is now produced under different names by over 100 companies.

11-year-old Fran Epperson was apparently playing with his water and powdered soda mix, leaving it with the wooden stirrer inside. After he forgot the ‘experiment’ outside overnight, it froze, and as any 11-year-old would probably do, he licked it, then quickly realizing what a revolutionary invention he'd made. He began by selling ‘Epsicles’ in his neighborhood, then eventually at amusement parks. He patented his product that later changed its name to ‘Pop’sicles’ after 20 years as it was much more favored by children. However, Epperson ended up selling the business and never again making as much money as he did at the beginning of his success.

You might not be able to pronounce it, but you most likely are using it as a condiment. This story talks about it being first made by the chemists John Wheeler Lea and William Perrins upon request by the Governor of Bengal, based on a recipe brought from Asia. They made two batches as they were quite puzzled over what was the fuss about the sauce, but they didn’t like it! Just like pretty much everything unwanted, they stored it away, only re-tasting it some time later and instantly feeling the potential of a new food item, which went on sale in 1837. However, to this very day, the original recipe hasn’t been revealed and remains a secret.

An Italian baker, Pietro Ferrero, was actually trying to create a chocolate alternative in the 1940s as a result of shortages during the Second World War. Little did he know that hazelnuts, sugar, and just a pinch of cocoa would create a new staple sweet spread.

One of the most delightful baked goods originating from the US is said to have been invented by Fanny Farmer, who simply adapted her chocolate cookie to be baked in a rectangular pan. Another legend surrounding the birth of chocolate brownies talks about a chef accidentally adding melted (and too much) chocolate into the dough.