During the Aztec reign, a slave could be bought for 100 cocoa beans.
100 Mind-Blowing Beans Facts
Pure cocoa can help prevent tooth decay. Naturally occurring chemicals in cocoa beans fight harmful bacteria in the mouth.
Baked beans are not baked. In the U.K., the dish is usually stewed in sauce. On the other hand, canned baked beans are cooked through a steaming process. Bottom line? “Baked” beans are rarely ever baked.
Instant coffee was made in 1901. The extract is made by brewing ground coffee beans and then spray-drying it with hot air. The droplets then turn into a fine powder.
Coffee beans can cure bad breath. Coffee beans are a known odour neutraliser. Perfume shops even make customers sniff coffee beans when trying different fragrances. However, you must chew them if you’re going for deodorizing – drinking coffee can worsen your breath through bacteria. Science, right?
Jelly beans are coated with insect juice. Jelly beans and candy corn are usually coated with shellac, a substance made from the secretions of a Thai species called kerria lacca. However, you probably won’t see this ingredient in the list: the industrial term for it is “confectioner’s glaze.” This secret ingredient gives your favourite confectionery that delicious sheen.
There’s a brewery in Japan that makes beer from elephant poop. The brewery, Sankt Gallen, produces a beer called Un Kono Kuro, made with coffee beans that have passed through an elephant.
Canned baked beans aren’t baked, but stewed.
Lima beans have an amazing ability to command wasps as a defence. If insects are eating the lima bean’s leaves, the plant gives off a substance that acts as a signal to parasitic wasps to swoop in and destroy their enemy (i.e. the leaf-eating insects).
Baked beans are not baked but stewed.