We often have no idea where our food comes from. With the incredible variety of fresh food that we have access to, we can forget how it is even grown or harvested. See if you can guess what these common foods are.

You won’t be able to guess the way that these foods grow, even though you eat many of them every day!

1. Passion Fruit

Passion fruit is known as a pepo (a form of berry). They are grown in Brazil and northern Argentina. They got their name from Spanish missionaries while teaching lessons while traveling and converting the local population to Christianity! The flower has five pieces on it that represent “the five wounds of Christ”, thereby dubbing it the Passionfruit! The flower is incredibly beautiful, and the fruit has become a popular superfood in recent times. You may find it in your next cocktail or smoothie!

2. Dates

Dates are popular fruits eaten around the world! While they are growing, they look like huge pods of fruit that could fall off the tree at any moment. The trees are known as “Date Palms” and they account for nearly 3% of all the cultivated surface of the earth! They have many uses from extracting their sugar to using them purely as a sweet treat.

3. Gingko Bilboa

Gingko Bilboa, or sometimes referred to as maidenhair, has been cultivated for thousands of years! They are currently used as a supplement in many traditional medicines and home remedies. They primarily extract the useful parts from its leaves and claim a few health benefits! Most of the health claims are related to blood circulation and a healthy brain.

4. Cashews

You would never guess a cashew nut from the way it looks on the tree! Cashews are seeds that grow on large trees that can be up to 50 feet tall. The trees produce “cashew apples” and can be made into alcoholic drinks through a distilling process. The entire fruit has a use, not just the little nut that we usually eat!

5. Saffron

Time to get fancy. Saffron has been used in the spice trade since ancient times. It has always been expensive due to how it is grown and the very specific harvesting period. Saffron is a flower that grows stigmas which are the edible parts we use. Each flower only produces 3 stigmas which are then harvested and sold. It takes about 14,000 stigmas to produce one ounce of saffron threads, showing why it costs so much!

6. Cinnamon

Cinnamon is found in almost every spice cabinet out there, making it one of the most popular spices sold. Even with it being so common, most people have no idea what cinnamon really is. It is an ancient spice that has been providing flavor for generations. Cinnamon is not actually fruit or seed, but bark. They are part of a tree family that is harvested by stripping away the outer bark of the branches and peeling away the inner, tasty part.

7. Wasabi

Wasabi is a constant with all the sushi that I eat! Spiciness and uniqueness of flavor are what sets it apart. Wasabi is a tuber that grows in very specific conditions in Japan. Since it is so difficult to grow, it is much rarer than we realize. Most of the “wasabi” we eat in stores or tubes is just horseradish and a small amount of wasabi powder. A good way to tell if it’s real is if they bring the root to you directly with a grater to self-serve!

8. Kiwi

Kiwi is a favorite snack in many childhood memories and is super cool in how it grows! Not commonly known, kiwi grows on vines, not trees! The way they grow is much more like grapes than conventional tree fruit. Kiwi is a hardy fruit that most people can grow themselves! They can tolerate cold snaps of -40 degrees! Fresh kiwi, anyone?

9. Brussel Sprouts

I bet you didn’t know how Brussel sprouts grow! They typically come fresh in the supermarket in two forms, on the stalk or loose in a bag. Most people opt for the bagged versions and never really see what they look like naturally. Thick stalks grow up into the air as the Brussel sprouts grow in clusters. They are a very hearty veggie and are great to grow since you can grow so many at a time.

10. Capers

Capers are a flavor punch when used correctly. While thought of as a seed, capers are actually the pre-budded flowers of caper plants! They have been around for thousands of years and are great in sauces and rubs.

11. Artichokes

Much like capers, artichokes are the un-bloomed flowers of a thistle plant! Part of the thistle family, artichokes have been around for a long time. One of the more funnier facts, artichokes were not allowed to be eaten by women in the 16^th century because of their believed aphrodisiac properties.

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12. Quinoa

Pronounced “keen-wa” for all those not looking to be embarrassed at the grocery store, is a current health food replacement for rice and other side dishes. Not being a grain itself, quinoa looks somewhat similar and is grown in a way that reminds you of oats. Quinoa is a part of the amaranth family and grows in huge clusters of thousands of seeds. With all the colors that it comes in, it is definitely not boring food to eat!

Source: Shareably, Just Fun Facts, Mobile Cuisine