Some food facts are so bizarre that they sound completely made up. Do bananas really have radioactive properties? Were lobsters once actually served to prisoners who moaned they got them too much? Here, we've dug up 69 fascinating nuggets of food-focused information that you’ll genuinely struggle to believe – yet all have been verified as facts.

Click or scroll through our gallery to discover the most incredible food facts out there, counting down to the most surprising of them all.

The facts selected have been verified and cross-referenced using authoritative sources, including expert analysis by nutritionists, published data and statistics.

If you're watching your sugar intake and feeling thirsty, fresh orange juice seems like a healthy choice, right? Actually, it can contain as much sugar as cola (around 10%). Orange juice is a good source of vitamin C (important for healthy gums, skin and the immune system) and folate (which helps make red blood cells and can help fight tiredness and fatigue). But nutritionists advise sticking to just one 5fl oz (150ml) glass of juice per day.

They say never judge a book by its cover, and that is especially true of strawberries. Because, even though the word 'berry' is right there in the name, strawberries (and raspberries) aren't classified as berries by botanists. The reason is that they come from a flower with more than one ovary, which technically makes strawberries an aggregate fruit. Weirdly,  pomegranates, kiwis and bananas all classify as berries.

In the UK, it's recommended that people consume five portions of fruit and vegetables per day to stay healthy. But did you know that amount excludes potatoes, which are considered part of the starchy carbohydrate group? In the US and Australia, potatoes do count towards your intake of fruit and vegetables, though their guidelines are to eat more fruit and veg in total. The recommended amount is 1.5 to two cups of fruit and two to three cups of vegetables per day in America, and two fruit and five veg portions per day in Australia.

Even though none of the ingredients in Oreos are derived from animals, it's not safe to assume that your favourite sandwich cookies are vegan friendly. The company admits that some Oreo products 'may include cross-contaminants of milk'. The allergen advice on the back of the packets should reveal whether the particular product is suitable for vegans.

While potatoes do contain complex carbohydrates, your body digests them faster than other complex carbs, causing a spike in blood sugar levels. The good news is that sprinkling vinegar over chips has the effect of lowering their glycaemic index (GI), which means those carbs get released over a more prolonged period, making them just that little bit better for you.

You might not have given it much thought before, but we bet next time you're munching corn on the cob, you won’t be able to help yourself doing some counting, too. When grown in a natural environment, an ear of corn will always have an even number of rows on each cob. On average, each husk will have some 800 kernels, spread across 16 rows.

Despite some diet plans telling us not to eat after a certain time, when you have your evening meal makes no difference to weight gain. Put simply, our body will only store food as fat if we eat more calories overall than we use up. Time of day doesn't have an impact – so feel free to embrace the European tradition of relaxed, late-night meals.

A tablespoon of butter supplies about 0.3oz (7.8g) of saturated fat, while the same amount of coconut oil has about 0.5oz (14g). Some people have argued that the saturated fats in coconut oil aren’t as bad for your cholesterol level and heart health as the ones in butter. However, most health authorities disagree, stating that coconut oil should only be used sparingly.

Yes, you read that right. When Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin made that monumental first moon landing, they celebrated with a meal featuring bacon squares, canned peaches and sugar cookie cubes, all washed down with a pineapple grapefruit drink and coffee. But we’re not quite talking crispy, gleaming rashers here: the bacon squares were salted and dried. Perhaps that's why they no longer feature on space meal plans.

American, Australian and Japanese egg producers wash and sanitise eggs, then spray them with oil and refrigerate them. However, washing removes the natural protective barrier that prevents bacteria from entering the eggs. In the UK and across Europe, it’s actually illegal to wash grade A eggs. This keeps the natural protection in place, so they can be sold from the shelf rather than the fridge.

While the exact ingredients in Diet Coke and regular Coca-Cola remain a closely guarded secret, there’s enough of a difference between the two for this observation to prove true. The reason? It’s all about the sugar content. In short, regular Coke contains sugar. This makes it denser than water, meaning an unopened can will sink when placed in water. The artificial sweeteners used to produce Diet Coke mean the drink is less dense (lighter) than water and will float.

A method called 'rhubarb forcing' involves putting rhubarb in a dark shed to trick it into thinking that it's spring and consequently growing at an impressively fast past. In fact, in these conditions the vegetable (yes, it’s a vegetable) sprouts at such a pace, you can actually hear it growing.

The most popular tea bag tale has it that New York tea merchant Thomas Sullivan started sending samples of tea to his customers in small silken bags in 1908. People then assumed the entire bag should be put in the pot and through this happy mistake, the idea of the tea bag was born. However, Milwaukee's Roberta C. Lawson and Mary Molaren filed a 'tea leaf holder' patent in 1901. So perhaps Sullivan only popularised an idea already in the works.

The first recipe for German chocolate cake appeared in the newspaper The Dallas Morning News in June 1957, after being submitted by local reader Mrs. George Clay. The main ingredient was German's Sweet Chocolate – a chocolate bar from American confectionary brand Baker's that's still available to buy in the US today. The company called the chocolate bar German's because it was created by a man called Samuel German. So we actually have Texas, not Germany, to thank for this sweet treat.

Foods such as prawns and eggs are rich in cholesterol. But, generally speaking, when you eat them your internal production of cholesterol goes down in response, keeping blood cholesterol levels relatively steady. It's saturated fat, found in food such as processed meat, cakes, pastries, biscuits and chocolate, that’s of concern when it comes to high blood cholesterol. 

Without getting too technical, this strange but true phenomenon has all to do with the water content and chemistry of the tubular vegetable. In the early 2010s, when US aeroplane manufacturer Boeing was having issues with its in-flight wi-fi, it used sacks of potatoes as stand-ins for human passengers to test signal strength and eliminate weak spots in the wi-fi systems. The project was known as Synthetic Personnel Using Dialectic Substitution – or SPUDS.

When McDonald’s added a Caesar salad to its menu in 2016, would-be healthy eaters were delighted... for a while. Then it became apparent that the dressing added to the crispy chicken version of the now discontinued Keep Calm, Caesar On salad helped the dish rack up around 730 calories, 1.8oz (53g) fat and 1,400mg sodium. For context, at the time a Double Big Mac delivered 680 calories, 1.3oz (38g) fat and 1,340mg sodium.

If you overcook most vegetables, you'll end up with a mushy mess. Think terrible plates of courgettes, broccoli, cauliflower and carrots. However, mushrooms can be cooked for a seriously long time without breaking down. This is because they contain a polymer called chitin, which prevents them from turning gloopy or getting tough and chewy. Great news for the less confident cooks around…

A group of sweeteners known as polyols, including maltitol, sorbitol and xylitol, can have laxative effects if you consume them in excess. Look out for the warnings on lower sugar products – polyols occur in foodstuffs such as sugar-free mints, chewing gum and low-carb chocolate bars – and make sure you limit your intake to avoid any embarrassing digestive issues.

It's a common misconception that eating too much chocolate can cause skin breakouts. Acne is caused by the production of hormones and the effect these have on the sebaceous glands. A generally unbalanced diet might exacerbate the condition, and excess dairy and refined carbs might play a role, too – but there’s certainly no evidence specifically linking chocolate with acne.

In 1762, it’s said, John Montagu, the 4th Earl of Sandwich, ate the first 'sandwich': a piece of roast beef between two slices of toasted bread. The snack was created so the Earl could hold his meal in one hand, allowing him to continue with his chosen activity without pausing to use a knife and fork. Accounts disagree about whether he was engrossed in a gambling game or just busy working at his desk.

Don’t feel too bad if you’re not chugging back eight big glasses of water a day. The water in tea, coffee, soft drinks, juices, soups and fruit and vegetables all counts towards your fluid intake. The European Food Safety Authority suggests a total intake of water from food and drink of about 68fl oz (2l) for women and 85fl oz (2.5l) for men. As a rule, if your urine is a pale straw colour rather than dark and concentrated, you're OK.

It turns out you don't have to spend a small fortune on olive oil to see health benefits. Products labelled vegetable oil are usually rapeseed oil (canola oil) which, like olive oil, is very high in monounsaturated fats known to help lower cholesterol levels. As a result, vegetable oil is a much cheaper – but just as healthy – option for stir-frying or even using as a salad dressing base.

Those in the US get about 15% of the daily recommended amount of vitamin D from a single cup of cows' milk. But that’s because it's added in, not because milk is naturally rich in the bone-building vitamin. In Britain, milk is generally not fortified with vitamin D (it will be labelled if so), and in Australia, some milks are fortified, but not as standard.

Captain Hanson Gregory is credited as the inventor of the doughnut, and he seemingly came up with the much-loved invention while at sea in 1847. He told the Washington Post in 1916 that he would set sail with pastries made by his mother. But Gregory found that the pastries wouldn't cook in the middle when they were fried – so he solved the problem by carving a hole in the centre of the dough. "Them doughnuts was the finest I ever tasted," he said.

In the US, heavy cream must contain at least 36% fat. Whipping cream contains 30-35% milk fat, while half-and-half is only around 10.5% fat. In the UK, the most popular choices are double cream (48% fat), whipping cream (35% fat) and single cream (18% fat).

A 1oz (30g) handful of Brazil nuts supplies 76mg of the important mineral selenium. This is more than the recommended daily amount. While you've probably never thought too much about your selenium intake, it's a vital antioxidant that can help the immune system and thyroid function.

Ever wondered why apples are the preferred choice for bobbing at Halloween? It's not because they're inherently creepy (though they do feature in a few dark fairy tales and gothic stories); it's actually because they're made up of 25% air, so float perfectly in water. They wouldn't be any good if they sank, would they?

Almond, rice, oat and cashew milk alternatives are all far lower in protein than cows’ milk. They're generally fortified with calcium and vitamin D, but not protein. However, the protein in soya milk almost matches the amount in dairy, so it's a great choice for vegans who want to make sure they're getting enough.

The signature fuzzy skin that covers a perfectly plump peach is there for a reason: the fuzz collects water droplets, forming a protective layer over the skin beneath. This is why peaches rot less readily than nectarines. The fuzz has another benefit, too: pests apparently don’t enjoy getting their legs tickled by the fuzz, so they'll always opt for nectarines over peaches.

What makes the perfect frothy coffee? Turns out it's the protein in milk that makes it foam up – and skimmed milk contains far more protein than full fat. This, in turn, allows for the creation of a stiffer, more abundant foam. That said, whole milk will always yield a richer, creamier end result. The choice is yours!

Crunchy cucumber has a very high water content – roughly 95% – and with only 14 calories per 3.5oz (100g) is low in calories, too. Steer clear of dunking it in creamy dips and you’ve got yourself the perfect guilt-free, hydrating snack. Pop slices into water for a refreshing, health-boosting drink on a hot summer day.

Experts say tomatoes taste better when stored at room temperature. In fact, they'll soften more quickly if refrigerated. Once ripe, however, they will only last a couple of days, so you can pop them in the fridge to extend their lives. Remember to keep tomatoes away from bananas and avocados too – the plant hormone these produce can make tomatoes go mushy more quickly.

As a rough rule of thumb, if a vegetable grows above the ground, it should be added to already boiling water to be cooked. If it grows below the ground, you should place it in a pan of cold water and bring it to the boil. Starting root vegetables out in cold water allows their outside layers to heat more gradually, which stops the surface from becoming flaky.

In 1940, a year into the Second World War, the British authorities banned bananas (and other imported foods) from entering the country. This naturally led to a shortage in the UK, so home cooks had to get creative to summon the taste of the beloved fruit. A substitute for some families was the 'mock banana', which was cooked parsnip flavoured with banana essence. There was cause for celebration when bananas finally returned to Britain in 1945.

Who knew that fruit and flowers were so closely linked? Apples, peaches, plums, apricots, cherries, raspberries and blackberries are all part of the Rosaceae family. Almonds are also part of the rose family, and the flowers of the tree are usually pale pink or white.

A 1.7oz (50g) serving of cooked chicken livers has around 6mg of iron, which is about a third of the recommended daily amount, while the same portion of steak contains 1.2mg. Chicken livers are also packed with folic acid, providing more than the daily recommended requirement in just 1.7oz (50g). Both nutrients help to boost energy and combat fatigue, making chicken livers a great choice if you need an energy boost.

If you've ever eaten a raw cranberry, you'll be well acquainted with the fact that they're toe-curlingly sour. But did you know that they bounce once ripe? So, if you want to check if your cranberries are ready to use, just try throwing one on the kitchen countertop. If it bounces, it's ready to eat.

The term vegan was coined in November 1944, when a group of non-dairy vegetarians got together to discuss their non-dairy vegetarian diet and lifestyle. This group – which grew into The Vegan Society in the UK – toyed with the names dairyban, vitan and benevore, before settling on vegan, which contains the first three and last two letters of vegetarian.

Back in 2007, Oklahoma caused controversy when it officially declared the watermelon a vegetable, due to it being part of the cucumber family. It's not just any vegetable, either. Watermelon is the Sooner State's official state vegetable, while the official state fruit is the strawberry. There is still some debate over whether watermelon is a fruit or a vegetable.

Traditionally, we think of fruits as being sweet rather than savoury. Botanically, though, a fruit is a ripened flower ovary that contains seeds. That puts tomatoes in the fruit category, along with avocados, aubergines, cucumbers, green peppers and courgettes.

Think about this too much and you might be put off honey for life, but there's a long and impressive method bees use to produce the amber nectar. A forager bee drinks nectar and keeps it in its 'honey stomach' before regurgitating it and passing it on to younger house bees at the hive. After that, house bees pass the nectar from bee to bee until the water content is reduced to around 20%. The last house bee then regurgitates it into a cell of the honeycomb. The average honey bee produces a mere 1/12th of a teaspoon of honey in its lifetime.

When Eduard Haas III invented Pez in 1927 in Austria, the candy came in one flavour (peppermint) and was designed as an alternative to smoking. The sweets were round and came in small tins until the iconic Pez dispenser was introduced in 1949. Interestingly, the name Pez comes from the German for peppermint, 'pfefferminz'.

Just one 3oz (80g) boiled carrot supplies enough beta-carotene for your body to produce 1,480 micrograms (mcg) of vitamin A, which is needed for skin cell renewal. That's more than the daily recommendation in the USA (around 900mcg). It's best to eat carrots cooked, as this softens the cell walls allowing more beta-carotene to be absorbed.

As long as the honey has been heat pasteurised (and virtually all honey sold in supermarkets has) and is sealed properly so moisture can't be absorbed, honey can last forever (or for a very long time indeed). Proving the point, 3,000-year-old pots of the sweet stuff have been found in the Egyptian pyramids.

Here's a depressing fact for everyone over the age of 30: by your third decade you’ve reached your peak bone mass or 'calcium forever level', and more bone starts being lost than gained. Healthy eating and exercise can help protect bones but, to strengthen them, you need to consume enough calcium from dairy, green vegetables and canned fish such as sardines.

Think vitamin C and your mind jumps to citrus fruits, but some other fruits and vegetables provide more of this important nutrient than the likes of oranges. Just half a red pepper, eaten raw, provides more than your requirement for the day. Kiwi fruit and strawberries are also good sources of vitamin C.

It's more likely that hay fever sufferers who are allergic to grasses will have a reaction to peaches, celery, tomatoes, melons (cantaloupe, watermelon and honeydew) and oranges. If you're allergic to birch tree pollen (your hay fever kicks in earlier in the season), watch out for peanuts and pitted fruits, such as nectarines and apricots.

McCance and Widdowson's The Composition of Foods measures dried thyme as having 123mg of iron per 3.5oz (100g) – that’s 45 times more than the same weight of beef. While you wouldn't eat such a huge quantity of dried thyme, adding just a teaspoon of the herb to your meal will provide around 14% of your recommended daily iron intake.

When pasta, rice, potatoes and bread are chilled or frozen after cooking, some of their starches become 'resistant' to digestion, which in effect means the calories they contain can't be absorbed properly. While there are no studies that show this helps with weight control, it might do in theory – as long as you don’t drown your pasta salad in creamy mayo.

Eggshells are essentially calcium carbonate, which is exactly what chalk is made from. It takes quite a few crushed eggshells to make one piece of chalk, but it’s a fun thing to try with kids and there are 'how to' guides abound on the internet. If that doesn’t appeal, eggshells make an excellent addition to a compost pile, thanks to the calcium they contain.

Technically speaking, to qualify as chocolate, a product must contain cocoa bean solids and white chocolate doesn’t. Instead, it’s usually made from a combination of cocoa butter (and sometimes added vegetable fats), milk products, sugar and vanilla. It's still delicious, though.

This is not something you're going to be able to do at home, of course, and it's not recommended you even try. But scientist Dan Frost from the Bayerisches Geoinstitut in Germany found that it was theoretically possible to forge a diamond out of carbon-rich peanut butter. He used presses that mimicked the conditions beneath the Earth to try to create homemade diamonds. Admittedly, he conducted his peanut butter experiment for the enjoyment of a German TV station – but it was still mostly successful.

It might sound like an old wives’ tale, but if you repeatedly eat a lot of carrots, the orange-coloured beta-carotene the vegetable contains really can turn your skin slightly orange. The beta-carotene gets deposited in fat under the skin and will be particularly noticeable on the palms of your hands. In fact, beta-carotene supplements are sometimes sold as tanning aids.

Coffee beans are harvested from the Coffea plant, a small tree that produces bright red fruits similar to cherries. The coffee beans we’re all familiar with are actually the pips in the middle of the fruit, which are extracted and then roasted to help you get your caffeine fix.

Gram for gram, this is true. McCance and Widdowson's The Composition of Foods shows that 3.5oz (100g) of almonds boasts 240mg of bone-building calcium, while semi-skimmed (2%) milk has 120mg per 3.5oz (100g). However, we tend to drink milk in bigger quantities than we eat almonds (and the calcium from milk is easily absorbed), so dairy is typically a better day-to-day source.

Although washing lettuce is a must as it removes dirt, dust and some pesticide residues, it won't remove all bacteria, as some gets stuck in microscopic crevices. E. coli can even find its way into the interior of your produce, so when there are food safety advisories in place be sure to check your salad and throw out any suspect leaves.

While there are far more expensive food items available in supermarkets, it turns out that cheese is the one that's stolen most often. After surveying nearly 1,200 retailers representing 250,000 retail outlets worldwide, The Centre for Retail Research in the UK discovered that 4% of cheese went missing from stores.

Oysters are considered a delicacy in the UK and beyond these days, but there was a time when they were a food associated with London's poor. During Victorian times, oysters were plentiful along the coastlines of Essex and Kent and were very cheap. Then, around the beginning of the 20th century, the world oyster supply diminished greatly due to pollution. As a result, they became rarer and more expensive.

Parents worldwide have experienced the pure chaos of a kids' birthday party with little ones seemingly high on birthday cake, sweets and fizzy drinks. But it turns out it's not the sugar that sends kids crazy – they're just over-excited. That's according to randomised controlled trials testing the theory, with none detecting a difference between the behaviour of children who had consumed sugar and those who hadn't.

Before the 18th century, lobsters were so plentiful they washed up on shores during storms and were used as a quick and easy protein source for many. They were even regarded as 'sea insects' in the US, where they were fed to prisoners who apparently moaned about being given them too often. By the Second World War, supply dwindled and lobsters started appearing on restaurant menus, making prices shoot up and securing their status as a prized luxury.

Salted crisps supply 17mg of vitamin C per 3.5oz (100g), while the same quantity of apples only provides 6mg. This all adds up to a 1.25oz (35g) bag of crisps and a medium apple (3.5oz/100g of apple flesh) each containing around 6mg of vitamin C. While high-calorie crisps should be more of an occasional treat, the vitamin C boost is one reason to justify reaching for your favourite snack. Adults should aim to have 80mg of vitamin C a day.

When people say they have a nut allergy, they're often referring to peanuts – but peanuts aren't technically nuts. They belong to the legume family, along with lentils and peas. Unlike tree nuts – such as almonds, Brazil nuts and hazelnuts – legumes, including peanuts, grow in pods that mature underground.

Bananas contain naturally occurring radioactive elements because the fruit is high in potassium – a small fraction of which is radioactive. However, you would need to eat 100 bananas just to come into contact with as much natural radiation as you do on a daily basis in the USA.

As little as two teaspoons of nutmeg is enough to cause symptoms of toxicity and send you on a very unpleasant trip, and consuming a whole nutmeg could even prove fatal. That's because the spice contains a hallucinogenic compound known as myristicin. It goes without saying, then, it's advisable to only use nutmeg in small amounts.

Now discover the mistakes you’ve been making cleaning your kitchenware

Last updated by Luke Paton.