Fun facts about the food we eat
By TONY NYE
Agriculture and Natural Resources Educator
OSU Extension
Clinton County
March Madness is upon us. I did not fill out a bracket for the first time in years. I just love watching the games and will root for the underdog in most cases. Ohio State will have to play better ball if they want to get past this weekend.
Since this is a fun time of year, I thought I would share some fun food facts in honor of agriculture. Here we go:
Did you know popcorn pops because water is stored in a small circle of soft starch in each kernel? As the kernel is heated, the water heats, the droplet of moisture turns to steam and the steam builds up pressure until the kernel finally explodes to many times its original volume.
Americans today consume 17.3 billion quarts of popped popcorn each year! The average American eats about 68 quarts!
While the first breakfast cereal was made by adding sugar and milk to popped popcorn, a shortage of baking flours after World War II forced breadmakers to substitute up to 25% of wheat flour with ground popped popcorn. Over the years, popcorn also has been used as an ingredient in pudding, candy, soup, salad and entrees.
The same chemicals that give tart cherries their color may relieve pain better than aspirin and ibuprofen in humans.
Eating about 20 tart cherries a day could reduce inflammatory pain and headache pain.
There are about 7,000 cherries on an average tart cherry tree (the number varies depending on the age of the tree, weather and growing conditions). It takes about 250 cherries to make a cherry pie, so each tree could produce enough cherries for 28 pies.
Did you know ….?
• Lettuce is a member of the sunflower family.
• Darker Green lettuce leaves are more nutritious than lighter green leaves.
• Americans eat about 30 pounds of lettuce every year. That's about five times more than what we ate in the early 1900s.
• In the United States, lettuce is the second most popular fresh vegetable.
• About 25 percent of all iceberg lettuce is made into fresh cut salads.
Blueberries are the second most popular berry in the United States.
• Michigan and New Jersey produce 66 percent of all the blueberries in the United States, followed by North Carolina, Oregon and Washington.
• Over 200 million pounds of blueberries are grown every year in North America.
Poultry production is very important to agriculture.
• In the U.S. in 1998, hens produced 6,657,000,000 dozen eggs — that's 6.657 billion dozen! After these eggs were laid, about two-thirds were sold in the shell and one third of them were broken — not by accident, but on purpose. Because after the eggs are broken out of their shells, they can be made into liquid, frozen, dried and specialty egg products.
• The egg shell may have as many as 17,000 tiny pores over its surface. Through them, the egg can absorb flavors and odors. Storing them in their cartons helps keep them fresh.
• Eggs age more in one day at room temperature than in one week in the refrigerator.
• It takes 24 to 26 hours for a hen to produce an egg. There is 30 minutes between each egg-producing cycle.
• Egg yolks are one of the few foods that naturally contain Vitamin D.
You have heard the saying, "An apple a day"? Did you know these facts about the apple?
• Apples are a member of the rose family.
• Fresh apples float because 25 percent of their volume is air.
• In the winter, apple trees need to "rest" for about 900 to 1,000 hours below 45 degrees Fahrenheit in order to flower and fruit properly.
• If you grew 100 apple trees from the seeds of one tree, they would all be different.
We are approaching asparagus time. How about these facts:
• The name asparagus comes from the Greek language and means "sprout" or "shoot."
• Asparagus is a member of the Lily family.
• Asparagus is related to onions, leeks, and garlic.
• More than 50,000 tons of asparagus are grown in California every year.
The "Great Pumpkin" has some interesting history and facts:
• Pumpkins were once recommended for removing freckles and curing snake bites.
• Pumpkin flowers are edible.
• In early colonial times, pumpkins were used as an ingredient for the crust of pies, not the filling.
• The name "pumpkin" originated from "pepon," the Greek word for "large melon."
Pizza represents agriculture in so many ways with bread, dairy, meat, and sometimes fish but did you know this about pizza?
• Americans eat approximately 100 acres of pizza each day, or 350 slices per second.
• Each man, woman and child in America eats an average of 46 slices (23 pounds) of pizza a year.
• Pepperoni is America's favorite topping (36 percent of all pizza orders we eat approximately 251,770,000 pounds a year!
• In America, anchovies always rank last on the list of favorite toppings.
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