A lot of people don’t exactly know what they’re doing in the kitchen. They might be able to follow a recipe or make a few simple dishes that require minimal effort, but truly understanding ingredients and how to make a dish from scratch is an art that takes practice. So if you are interested in leveling up your culinary skills, you’ve come to the right place, pandas!

Foodies on Threads have recently been revealing the most surprising facts they know about food and cooking. From information about product labels in stores to facts about how certain spices end up on our tables, we hope that this list teaches you something new. Enjoy scrolling through these fun facts, and be sure to upvote the ones that you’ll keep in mind when it’s time to make dinner!

#1

Cheese that i used to make as a kid on a plate in the microwave hit way harder than majority of 5 star restaurant food.

© Photo: ravinderpelia

#2

Paprika is just dried red bell peppers.

© Photo: mandspands_

#3

Sushi grade fish is not a regulated term and essentially means nothing. It’s just a marketing tactic.

© Photo: amburlington

#4

Figs aren’t vegan.

Extra info:
Certain figs are not considered vegan by strict standards because their pollination requires a female fig wasp to enter the fruit, get trapped, pass away inside, and have her body digested by the fig’s enzymes.

© Photo: theonefifi

#5

Rice is no longer good and should be tossed after 2 hours due to the bacteria that cannot be destroyed with reheating. Of course you can refrigerate within 2 hours and then it will be good for a few days.

© Photo: jessicaalmaflores

#6

Devilled eggs, at their simplest, are eggs, mixed with eggs and oil and stuffed in eggs.

© Photo: sciolistic.gowk

#7

Breakfast is not the most important meal of the day. In 1944, General Foods coined the phrase simply to sell more of its Grape Nuts cereal.

© Photo: thekeithmckenzie

#8

Ginger makes lemon more lemony. Add sour cream to cake to make it moister. I use mayo on grilled cheese instead of butter.

© Photo: some1stilllovesyou

#9

Sugar free tic tacs are 95% sugar, but can be labeled sugar free because they have less than 1 gram of sugar per serving.

© Photo: _p.m.e

#10

Add some squares of dark chocolate to your tomato sauce and the flavor hits a completely different level!

Likewise add a tsp of instant coffee to your brownie batter…same thing!

© Photo: ehtrenchf

#11

Letting a steak sit for a few minutes after cooking makes it juicier.

© Photo: swiftmoonphoto

#12

Adding a pinch of salt to chocolate milk is a near-illegal level up.

© Photo: thegreatergoogs

#13

Cinnamon being made from tree bark will never not feel weird.

© Photo: itsmelightskin

#14

The way asparagus grows looks and feels like someone is pranking me about the way asparagus grows.

© Photo: wtfrnchtoast

#15

Jalapeños have more Vitamin C than oranges.

© Photo: capricee_14

#16

There’s this thing called Perpetual Stew where you start a giant pot of stew and keep adding to it as you’re serving it so it never runs dry. Apparently, there has been a pot going somewhere in Europe for near 500 years.

© Photo: klln.me.smalls

#17

Restaurants use 100x more butter and sugar then you could ever imagine.

© Photo: notmadaboutitpodcast

#18

You should thaw meat in the fridge not in your sink or on the counter.

© Photo: judyleshaun_thelionqing

#19

People who say they can make French onion soup in 30 minutes are lying.

© Photo: denouxsupperclub

#20

Well apparently the red liquid seeping from seemingly undercooked flesh ISN’T blood.

© Photo: thebrojackson

#21

Biscuits and Gravy is just really wet flour served on really dry flour.

© Photo: could_i_be_anymore_in_love

#22

You aren’t allergic to MSG. That’s all junk science. It is safe to eat in moderation for almost everyone.

© Photo: joedelta187

#23

All sushi served in the US is frozen and thawed. It’s a regulation to reduce parasites. This might not apply to gas station sushi

© Photo: jamflaszlo

#24

Raw cookie dough is dangerous because of the raw flour, not the raw egg

© Photo: jenexnyc

#25

Grenadine is pomegranate juice, not cherry.

© Photo: nikki.forbes

#26

Just the way brussel sprouts grow.

© Photo: heylaurajayne

#27

Meal times & meals (like oatmeal for breakfast, sandwich for lunch) are a social construct. There are no rules as to what time or what food you break your fast with.

© Photo: imposterskitchen

#28

If you cook onions with a tiny bit of baking soda, they completely dissolve into the consistency of jelly within minutes and it is BRIGHT yellow. Like chicken-instant-ramen yellow. I love doing this and then making an omelette—it’s so oniony and good.

© Photo: spicyarianaart

#29

Emulsifing a vinegar and an oil together does in fact make them one lmao

© Photo: xepicrobx

#30

In the US you can label something as organic and it only needs to be 95% organic.

© Photo: amburlington

#31

If you have a severe cockroach allergy you cannot drink pre ground coffee.

© Photo: lacy.with.a.y

#32

Vanilla comes from orchids.

© Photo: annemy3sons_

#33

Adding baking soda to your coffee either to the grounds or into your cup helps neutralize the acid and tones the bitterness down so you need less cream and sugar. The big help though is that will cause less GERD

© Photo: cintyber1

#34

Most people that say they dislike rice do not know how to cook it properly.

© Photo: maisieelizabeth_

#35

Listeria occurs in a higher rate in bagged salad than lunch meat, but people don’t talk about that with pregnant women 🤷🏼‍♀️

© Photo: bri_lovescats

#36

Dr Kellogg originally made corn flakes to help people stop pleasuring themselves.

#37

Broccoli, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts, cabbage, and kale are all the same plant, just bred to emphasize different parts of it.

#38

All potatoes were once purple.

#39

You don’t have to “wash” chicken
Trust me, your favorite restaurant doesnt.
That med rare steak or prime rib isn’t leaking “blood”
Pork is perfectly ok
Boneless wings are nuggets.

#40

Brussel sprouts really were worse when we were younger. They’ve been bred to taste less bitter.
Red delicious apples used to taste delicious but were bred to withstand travel. They are now beautifully red, waxy, and terrible.
Corn looks nothing like its wild ancestor. I have no idea what made us think it would be great to cultivate, but very glad we did.

#41

So freezing and reheating bread actually does lower the glycemic index. It structurally changes enough to impact digestion. It’s not a ton but it’s still wild that happens. Also capers being a pickled flower bud has always seemed odd but less interesting.

#42

Parmesan Cheese isn’t vegetarian.
Oreos are vegan.

More info:
Traditional Parmesan (Parmigiano-Reggiano) is not vegetarian. To legally hold this name, it must be produced using animal rennet, an enzyme harvested from the fourth stomach of calves.

Most classic Oreo flavors do not contain any animal-derived ingredients, making them “accidentally vegan” on paper. However, the manufacturer does not classify them as strictly vegan due to the risk of cross-contact with milk on shared manufacturing equipment

#43

Milk does not do a body good. It was a marketing tactic because milk sales plummeted.

#44

fun fact: every time someone puts garlic and onions into a pan everyone without fail says “ooo that smells good” not sure if its a curse or something medical 🤷🏼‍♀️

#45

Tomato plants can release a chemical so potent that it turns caterpillars into cannibals and the caterpillar will eat itself.

#46

Nutmeg is poisonous, it can lead to a type of intoxication; in larger quantities it can even cause organ failure. We just consume it in very small amounts, spread out through recipes, but as little as a tablespoon can be bad news.

#47

Potato salad at a picnic that makes people sick isn’t the fault of the mayonnaise. The potatoes weren’t cooled enough before being mixed, per science.

#48

Protein powders, vitamin supplements are NOT regulated. You can literally start selling anything and call it supplements… Regulations only come when their is a problem.

#49

Walnuts have way more of those omega-3s than salmon.

#50

Bay leaves add so much flavor to food
You don’t eat them, but damn do they add flavor.

#51

Bananas are berries.

#52

One that no one ever believes when I tell them – if you eat a few Skittles and a few m&ms together, it tastes just like a Tootsie Roll.

#53

The liquid from canned chickpeas can be whipped into a vegan meringue substitute.

#54

that banana, the gros michel isn’t even extinct. it’s just easier to ship the Cavendish banana, which is what we have today. many of the old crops were wiped out by fungus but there are still some trees left here on earth.

#55

Adding a dash of powdered mustard to any creamy cheesy sauce will make the sauce taste cheesier, while a dash of nutmeg will make the sauce creamier.

#56

Organic does NOT mean pesticide free.
It just means that it’s grown without SYNTHETIC pesticides and fertilizers.

#57

Potatoes are tomato plants that crosbred with another plant, causing it to focus on tubers instead of fruits. Also you can graft tomato stems onto potato root stock and get a plant that will produce hoth tubers and fruits, but both will be terrible from the split nutrients.

Also carrots do not seed until their second year.

#58

MSG comes from plants and it’s not evil!

#59

The harder a cheese is, the more readily it will emulsify into a sauce. That’s why you need a roux to make cheddar cheese dip but alfredo sauce only requires parmigiano cheese, butter, and a little pasta water.

#60

If you put lemon juice into a pan before the garlic has a chance to cook down, it might turn blue.

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