Food Facts for Kids
Tasty facts about the food we eat
Lychees have been grown in China for over 2,000 years and were considered a delicacy of Chinese emperors. The fruit was so prized that couriers on horseback raced to deliver fresh lychees to the imperial palace.
Pumpkin seeds, called pepitas, were a staple food of the Aztecs long before Europeans arrived in the Americas. They are rich in zinc and magnesium and were used both as food and in Aztec medicine.
Vanilla is the world's most popular flavour — it is used in more food products than any other single flavour. Despite this, it is the second most expensive spice after saffron, because harvesting vanilla pods is entirely done by hand.
Tomatoes are packed with glutamate, the compound responsible for 'umami' — the fifth basic taste alongside sweet, sour, salty, and bitter. Cooking concentrates these glutamates, which is why tomato sauce tastes so rich and savory.
The idea that you must wait 30 minutes after eating before swimming to avoid cramps is a myth. While blood flow does increase to the digestive system after a meal, there is no scientific evidence this causes dangerous cramps in swimmers.
Traditional soy sauce is made by fermenting soybeans and wheat with a special mould for up to two years. The long fermentation creates hundreds of complex flavour compounds, which is why artisan soy sauce tastes so different from the factory-made variety.
Tapioca pearls — the chewy bubbles in bubble tea — are made from the starch of the cassava root. Cassava itself is toxic when raw because it contains cyanide compounds, which are removed through careful preparation.
Papayas contain an enzyme called papain that breaks down protein. It is used commercially as a meat tenderiser, in chewing gum, and even in contact lens cleaning solutions.
Black garlic is simply regular white garlic that has been slowly heated at a low temperature for several weeks. The heat causes the sugars and amino acids to react, turning the cloves black and giving them a sweet, almost caramel-like flavour.
The delicious brown crust on bread is created by the Maillard reaction — a chemical process that occurs between amino acids and sugars at high heat. The same reaction is responsible for the flavour of seared meat, roasted coffee, and toasted marshmallows.