Food
The stories behind what we eat: wartime myths, holiday legends and kitchen science, sorted into what’s true and what isn’t.
60-SEC READIs brown sugar healthier than white sugar?
Not in a meaningful nutritional sense. Brown sugar contains molasses and trace minerals, but both are primarily added sugar with very similar calories.
Full write-up · 4 sources
60-SEC READDoes turkey really make you sleepy?
Not especially. Turkey has about as much tryptophan as other meats; the post-feast slump comes from a huge, carb-heavy meal, often with alcohol.
Full write-up · 3 sources
60-SEC READDo carrots really help you see in the dark?
Only if you’re short on vitamin A. The “carrots give you night vision” story spread in World War II Britain, while the RAF’s real edge, airborne radar, stayed secret.
Full write-up · 3 sources
60-SEC READWhy do onions make you cry?
Cutting an onion sets off a two-enzyme chain reaction that releases a gas, syn-propanethial-S-oxide. When it reaches your eyes, it irritates them, and your tear glands try to wash it away.
Full write-up · 5 sources
60-SEC READIs the 5-second rule real?
Not really. A Rutgers study found bacteria can jump onto dropped food in under a second. Wet foods and smooth floors pick up the most, and longer contact means more germs.
Full write-up · 3 sources
60-SEC READWhy does food taste different on a plane?
Low cabin pressure, dry air and engine noise dull your senses. In tests in a simulated cabin, saltiness dropped up to 30% and sweetness about 20%, while savory flavors held up.
Full write-up · 4 sources
60-SEC READIs canned pumpkin really pumpkin?
Yes, but not the jack-o’-lantern kind. Most U.S. canned pumpkin comes from the Dickinson pumpkin, a close relative of butternut squash, and the FDA lets certain squashes be labeled “pumpkin.”
Full write-up · 4 sources
60-SEC READWhy does popcorn pop?
Because of trapped steam. Heat turns the water inside each kernel into steam, pressure builds until the hull bursts at about 180°C (356°F), and the starch inside puffs out into a foam that sets into a flake.
Full write-up · 3 sources
60-SEC READShould you wash a raw turkey?
No. The USDA says rinsing raw poultry doesn’t remove bacteria and can spread it around your kitchen. In its 2019 test-kitchen study of people preparing raw chicken, 60% of those who washed it had bacteria in their sink afterward.
Full write-up · 4 sources
60-SEC READWhy does chocolate turn white?
It’s called bloom, and it isn’t mold. Fat bloom is cocoa butter crystals showing up on the surface, and sugar bloom is sugar dissolved by moisture that dries into crystals.
Full write-up · 5 sources
60-SEC READWhy do cranberries float?
Because every cranberry has air pockets inside. Four tiny chambers make the berries buoyant, which is why growers flood bogs to harvest most of the crop and why a fresh cranberry bounces.
Full write-up · 5 sources