12 Weird Foods – No One Knows How They Are Grown
By Heather Callaghan, Editor
Do you pick pineapple from a tree? Shell cashews and eat them right from the branch? Harvest quinoa like wheat? Peel the bark of vanilla?
You might be surprised if you’ve never thought of these things before!
See how many you get right!
Here are 12 photos showing how far removed from our food we are – this is how we grow it!
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1) Artichokes
This favored pizza topping and steamed gourmet is plucked from the ground.
2.) Hold the Capers, please!
You either love capers on your pasta or gourmet deli – or you hate them! Yet here they are literally blossoming off a branch.
3) Almonds
These fuzzy green buds are actually almonds! They are largely dependent on bees (shipped into California) for pollination. Thus, we’ve had issues with shortages and price hikes because of the bee decline.
4.) Cinnamon
Um, this isn’t exactly what you want in your hot cider, now is it? But here is literal cinnamon bark before it becomes a pretty, reddish spice stick. Pretty amazing that this humble bark is anti-inflammatory and fights obesity!
5.) Dates
Dates are a symbol of abundance, indeed. This sweet replacement for sugar loves to grow high up in massive clusters.
6.) Cashews
Not to be gross, but cashews look like something excreted by a pepper plant. Interestingly, you’d never want to pick a cashew off a tree and eat it raw – it would be too toxic! The actual nut is the thick-shelled seed and the outer shell (coat) of the seed contains the poison oak allergen urushiol. There is also a toxic resin inside the coat, but these are processed out before they reach the market.
7.) Cocoa beans
This will trip your trypophobia for sure! It does mine. Can you believe this addictive cacao powder starts as white, clumpy pods in shell?
8.) Pistachios
They grow on a tree and turn beautiful colors before harvest.
9.) Quinoa
Pronounced “KEEN-waw,” this cereal seed might as well be considered a grain. But here it is in a clustered plant.
10.) Saffron
Wow! Saffron is exquisite as a brightly and rich, rust-colored spice. But look at its equally vibrant flower! Did you know that saffron is extremely powerful at healing eye problems and was used in a study to treat depression?
  SEE: Saffron Increases Vision By Up To 97%
11.) Sesame Seeds
Open sesame pod. And when you do you’ll be assailed with many, many little sesame seeds!
12.) Vanilla!
This “Medusa” looking plant actually is depicting the pods of one of the most coveted wild foods in existence. Vanilla is used for food, sweets and fragrances the world over.
13.) BONUS – the Pineapple
The pineapple was the recurring “Easter egg” in the series Psych – but did they ever show the fruit growing in its natural state? Nope, it’s not from a tree at all! It almost looks like someone nestled it into an aloe plant. Are you surprised to see how close to the ground it grows?
Are you surprised to learn about these growing practices – would you like to see more?
Sound off below and don’t forget to share!
H/T: RealFarmacy
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Heather Callaghan is a Health Mentor, writer, speaker and food freedom advocate. She is the Editor and co-founder of NaturalBlaze as well as a certified Self-Referencing IITM Practitioner.
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