Digging into the history of just about anything can unearth interesting facts. Don’t believe me? The proof is in the pudding (and maybe in facts about pudding!), and these 14 tidbits have fun and interesting in spades!
Fair warning, though – the images and information below are bound to make you hungry, so please, make sure your mixer is in working order before digging in.
14. The famous Tollhouse Cookies weren’t exactly planned.
In 1930, Ruth Wakefield ran the Toll House Inn in Massachusetts. She was baking cookies and decided to add semi-sweet chocolates, expecting them to melt and make the cookies chocolate.
It didn’t, and people loved the chocolate chunks in the cookies; Wakefield eventually sold the recipe and rights to Nestle.
13. Graham crackers are meant to reduce sexual urges.
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In the 1800s, graham cracker inventor Reverence Sylvester Graham preached that a bland diet could quiet those pesky sexual urges.
12. All of your favorite vegetables come from the same plant.
Brussels sprouts, kale, broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, and kohlarabi all come from the Brassica oleracea plant, which has been selectively bred over the past century to give us yummy vegetables.
11. Chocolate cake used to be mahogany cake.
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The first chocolate cake in America dates back to the 1800s, and early versions used ermine frosting, a popular whipped buttercream.
Try it for yourself, here.
10. No one meant to invent popsicles.
In 1905, 11-year-old Frank Epperson left his cup of soda – complete with a stir stick – on his back porch overnight.
He (and his friends) loved it, and later in life he patented the Popsicle.
9. Boston once suffered a molasses flood.
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In 1919, a storage tank that held more than 2 million gallons of molasses exploded and flooded the Boston streets, crushing buildings, killing 21 people, and injuring around 150 more.
8. Vogue wanted you to diet eating only wine and eggs in the 1970s.
You definitely should not try this wine-and-eggs diet.
It encouraged women to eat nothing but eggs, white wine, steak, and black coffee for three days straight.
Basically, f*ck you 70s Vogue. Jeezus…
7. The first meal on the moon included a side of bacon.
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Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin ate bacon, peaches, sugar cookie cubes, pineapple grapefruit drink, and coffee in 1969.
6. McDonald’s gave onion nuggets a try before chicken ones took over the menu.
In the late 1970s, Onion Nuggets were tested in a few markets, but weren’t popular enough to make the nationwide menu.
A few years later, they found a winner with chicken nuggets.
5. Pez were invented to help people stop smoking.
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The tiny candies were marketed as anti-smoking mints – Pez is a shortened version of the German word Pfefferminz, or Peppermint, and the original flavor was mint.
4. This omelet was concocted during the Gold Rush.
One of the earliest examples of native California cuisine was the Hangtown fry – an omelet made of eggs, oysters, and bacon – that was concocted during the gold rush.
3. The first St. Louis gooey butter cake was a mistake.
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If you haven’t been to St. Louis and tried their gooey butter cake, well…you need to rectify that. The favorite can be traced back to the 1930s, and emerged when a local baker mistakenly added too much butter to his coffee cake recipe.
A happy accident!
You can make it at home if you don’t want to travel.
2. Carrots are meant to be purple.
Our carrots are only orange because Dutch growers have been cultivating mutated versions of the purple carrot since the late 17th century.
1. George Washington feasted on carrot cake to celebrate winning the war.
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As the British were leaving the former colonies with their tailcoats between their legs, General Washington was nomming some carrot cake (sans frosting) at the still-standing Fraunces Tavern in NYC.
I don’t know about you, but I feel smarter (and hungrier) already!
Did you learn anything new? Did we miss something amazing? Tell us about it in the comments!