Most of us take for granted the foods we eat and where they come from. Here are a few interesting facts about everyday foods you consume. You may think twice next time you mindlessly stuff yourself at a meal—especially with holiday feasts just around the corner!
Oranges aren’t naturally orange. Most oranges, upon ripening, are a combination of both orange and green colors. Since Americans like to buy fruits that look rich in color, orange growers “degreen” oranges before they are shipped to distributors. The degreening process works by putting the picked, but perfectly ripe oranges into a degreening room where the plant hormone ethylene is circulated through the air for approximately 48 to 60 hours. This forced ripening process matures the orange just enough to turn the skin from green to the classic orange color we all know.
Purple carrots. Speaking of oranges, you will be interested to learn that carrots were originally found in two colors, neither of which were orange. Centuries ago, you could only find purple, yellow or white carrots. However, the taste of these wasn’t stellar, so Dutch farmers in the 16th century began to cultivate them until they finally reached the happy orange color we know today. Their flavor also became sweeter than the original plant. In the past decade, purple and white carrots have made a comeback and are often sold in multi-color packs at local grocery stores.
Blue jeans and blue M&Ms share an ingredient. The same blue-colored dye used to turn jeans blue, called Blue No. 2, is also used to color foods like popsicles and M&Ms. Blue No. 2 is an organic dye produced from the leaves of the Indigofera tinctoria plant. While the plant has purple flowers, the leaves are filled with the makings of a natural blue and violet dye. The dye is extracted by soaking the leaves in water and allowing them to ferment. The next time you drip a blue popsicle on your jeans, don’t worry about staining—they were both colored with the same thing anyway!
Bananas or clones. The perfectly colored and shaped bananas we find in the grocery store are called Cavendish bananas, after the British Duke of Devonshire who started cultivating them in England in the late 1800s and early 1900s. The original banana comes from Vietnam and China, but is now grown in tropical climates worldwide. What you may not know about your banana is that it was grown asexually, meaning that the plants can’t re-flower themselves for new growth because they are grown without seeds. The only way to grow new banana plants is through taking a piece of the root of th tree and replant it. This means that all of the bananas that we eat are descendants from the original trees cultivated by the Duke of Devonshire. Essentially, they contain the exact same genetic makeup as the original trees and can be considered “clones” of each other.
About the Author: Natalie Clive is a writer for MyCollegesandCareers.com. My Colleges and Careers provides online tools to help prospective students find online schools where they can earn their degree and qualify to have a successful career.
