Weird and Wonderful Veggie Facts

We pile our plates with them every day, but there’s a lot more to the average vegetable than you might think! Check out these freaky facts:

•    Humans have been chomping on cabbage for thousands of years. We’re not sure how well it worked, but the ancient Chinese used to eat it to cure baldness!

•    Onions make you cry because they are full of sulphuric chemicals, which irritate your tear ducts. Sulphur is the same gas which is produced by volcanoes when they erupt.

•    When explorers brought potatoes back from the New World in the early 1500s, Europeans were afraid to eat them because they thought spuds would give them leprosy – a highly infectious skin disease. It wasn't until King Louis XVI served them at the royal table that people believed potatoes were safe to eat.

•    Apples, onions, and potatoes all have the same taste – the differences in flavour are caused by their smell. Don’t believe us? Try pinching your nose and taking a bite from each. They will all taste sweet (although your breath might not!)

•    Broccoli and cauliflower are the only vegetables that are also flowers. Broccoli also contains nearly as much calcium as whole milk – although we wouldn’t recommend having it with your cereal in the morning.

•    The ancient Egyptians sometimes used onions to fill the eye sockets of mummies. They even used resin covered with onion skin to plug the mummies’ nostrils!

•    Onions were popular with the ancient Greeks too: before the Olympic Games, athletes would eat pounds of onions, drink onion juice and rub onions on their bodies to help them perform better. We bet they smelled nice!

•    Tomatoes were long believed to be as poisonous as deadly nightshade and some countries grew them just for decoration. It wasn’t until 1830 that people realised the tomato was safe to eat.

•    Once upon a time, all carrots were either white or purple. But in the 18th century, Dutch farmers decided to plant a crop of carrots in orange, their national colour. The orange carrots were such a huge hit, we’ve all been gnawing on them ever since!

•    Peas aren’t really vegetables at all: they are seeds. We eat them after they are removed from their pods.

The Truth Behind the Myths

There are plenty of old wives’ tales about fruit and veg – but which are true and which are a load of old rubbish? We’ve picked some of our favourites and checked with the experts to find out what basis they have in fact.

Do carrots really help you see in the dark?

Technically, yes. Carrots contain Vitamin A which helps prevent night blindness, a condition which can sometimes occur if people are malnourished. But because we already have plenty of Vitamin A in our diet, eating more carrots won’t really make any difference!

Will spinach give me muscles like Popeye?

Eating spinach won’t give you instant bulging biceps, but it does contain iron which is an important part of a healthy diet. Iron is good for your immune system and helps move oxygen around your body – without enough of it you will feel tired, weak and susceptible to infection. Iron is also found in baked beans and dried apricots.

Does an apple a day keep the doctor away?

This old chestnut refers to maintaining a healthy digestive system, as apples are an excellent source of fibre. Many years ago, eating apples was said to keep you ‘regular’ and therefore meant fewer trips to the doctor. Eating apples is still as healthy as ever, although nowadays we think it should be ‘five a day keeps the doctor away’ instead!

Are cucumbers really ‘cool’?

The saying ‘as cool as a cucumber’ has its basis in fact – cucumbers are 20% cooler inside than the surrounding air.