Food historian K. T. Achaya suggested fermented steamed cakes may have come from Indonesia; the idea is debated.
Wacky Facts
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Peanuts are not nuts — they are legumes.
Peanuts grow underground and belong to the bean family, closer to lentils and peas than to almonds.
Chocolate was once a bitter drink.
The Maya and Aztecs drank cacao as a bitter, spiced drink; sweet chocolate came later in Europe.
Coffee beans are seeds of a fruit.
They come from coffee cherries. Karnataka produces most of India’s coffee.
Mangoes are related to cashews and pistachios.
They are all in the same plant family, Anacardiaceae. India grows the most mangoes in the world.
Carrots were not originally orange.
Early cultivated carrots were purple or yellow. Orange varieties became popular in the Netherlands in the 17th century.
1908Tea bags were invented by accident.
Around 1908, New York merchant Thomas Sullivan sent tea samples in silk bags; customers dunked the bags straight into water.
Cashew apples are fruits; the nut grows outside them.
The cashew nut hangs below the fleshy “cashew apple”. In Goa, the apple is used to make the drink feni.
Tomatoes were once thought poisonous in Europe.
Tomatoes belong to the nightshade family, and many Europeans avoided them for years after their arrival.
Turmeric has been used in India for about 4,000 years.
India produces most of the world’s turmeric.
Gold is edible.
Thin gold leaf, called varak in India, decorates sweets. It passes through the body unchanged.
Ghee has a high smoke point.
Removing milk solids lets ghee reach higher temperatures than butter before burning.
Tea is the world’s most consumed drink after water.
India is one of the largest producers and consumers of tea, with Assam and Darjeeling famous worldwide.
Basmati means “fragrant”.
The name comes from Hindi. India is the world’s largest exporter of basmati rice.
Chilli peppers came to India from the Americas.
Portuguese traders brought chillies to India in the 16th century. Before that, Indian food got its heat from black pepper and long pepper.
Onions make you cry because of a gas.
Cutting onions releases syn-propanethial-S-oxide, which irritates the eyes.
Samosas probably came from Central Asia.
Stuffed pastries called sambosa were described in medieval Persian texts and reached India with traders; potato filling came much later.
1970India produces the most milk in the world.
Operation Flood, launched in 1970 and led by Verghese Kurien, helped make India the world’s largest milk producer.
Pineapples take about two years to grow.
A pineapple plant usually produces a single fruit after 18 to 24 months.
Potatoes reached India only around the 17th century.
The potato originated in South America and was brought to India by Portuguese and later British traders.
Popcorn is one of the oldest snacks.
Archaeologists found popped maize in Peru dated to around 6,700 years ago.
Jalebi is known by different names across Asia.
Similar sweets are called zalabiya in the Middle East; medieval cookbooks describe early versions.