More than 70% of the world's spices are produced in India. It has the widest range of spices of any country. Black pepper is regarded as the "king" spice, with origins dating back to 2,000 B.C.E. Black pepper was highly valued in ancient times, almost as valuable as black gold. Although salt can be found all over the world, black pepper is native to a province in South India.

Mithais are Indian desserts and sweets. Although many buffets focus on Kheer, a traditional rice pudding, or Gulab Jamun, Indian milk balls served with honey syrup, the country has a wide variety of desserts. Because sugar was introduced to the country by the Portuguese, the most traditional desserts are made with fruit and honey.

Chai, a spiced tea drink, is thought to be a healing beverage that dates back over 5,000 years to an ancient royal court. It wasn't until the 1930s that black tea was added. Coffee was most likely introduced to Indian culture by the British.

According to Water in Crisis: A Guide to the World's Fresh Water Resources from the United States Geological Survey, the seas hold slightly more than 96 percent of the total amount of water on the planet (USGS). However, that is mostly seawater. You must go to the poles to find the majority of the world's freshwater, as 68.7 percent of it is buried in ice caps, permanent snow, and glaciers.

Eggshells have a porous structure. That is, they allow air to pass through. As eggs age, they absorb air and form an air pocket. In general, you can test the freshness of an egg by placing it in a cup of water. If the egg floats, it means it is old and has a large air pocket, and you should avoid eating it. If the egg remains on the bottom, it is usually safe to eat. You can smell an egg before eating it to ensure that it is fresh. If it smells sour, you should avoid it.

Have you ever come across a blue chicken egg? There's an interesting storey behind how these eggs got their brilliant blue colour. A virus infected a species of native South American chickens over 500 years ago, according to a PLoS ONE study. This infestation caused a genetic mutation that caused an accumulation of a pigment known as biliverdin, causing the chickens to lay blue and green eggs!

Brown eggs have thicker shells than white eggs, contrary to popular belief. In reality, the thickness of an egg is solely determined by the age of the chicken: younger chickens lay eggs with thicker shells, while older chickens lay eggs with thinner shells. This thickness will occur regardless of the breed of chicken or the colour of the egg.

The colour of a chicken's earlobes—yes, chickens have earlobes—is a good predictor of the colour of the eggshell it will lay. Chickens with white earlobes lay white eggs, whereas chickens with red or brown earlobes lay brown eggs.

This was certainly a surprise to us! Each egg white and yolk contains 3 grams of protein. So, while egg whites are traditionally associated with protein, they don't have a significant advantage over their yellow counterpart. The main distinction is in the number of calories. A single yolk contains 3 grams of protein for 60 calories, whereas an egg white contains 3 grams of protein for only 15 calories.

This is an unfortunate fact because many of us have been told the opposite and have tried to cut it far too frequently. However, it is important to remember that split ends prevent our hair from growing, which means that we must cut them as soon as they appear.

Let's use a mental image to put this into context. If each strand of your hair can support 100g, and most people have 100 000 to 150 000 strands of hair on their scalp, your entire head can support the weight of two elephants - wow!!

Water also changes the hydrogen bonds in our hair, making it flatter after a shower. This could explain why some women dislike humidity: the water in the air changes the silkiness and structure of the hair, causing some hair to become frizzy or puffy.

Have you ever been dissatisfied because your freshly cut wet hair appeared to be longer than it was? Then you discovered it had shrunk unexpectedly after the hairstylist had blow-dried it? Don't worry, you're not alone; water causes hair to grow longer than it naturally would!

Onions have the ability to make you cry and make your breath smell horrible. Believe it or not, the reason onions do those things is the same reason onions are healthy. Over 100 sulfide-containing compounds can be found in onions. These have a variety of health benefits, including the prevention of asthma and certain types of cancer. Onions are related to garlic, leeks, chives, and scallions. While they do not all provide the same level of health benefits, they do provide comparable health benefits.

Even after being harvested, most fruits can still respond to their surroundings. Take, for example, the banana: A quick Google search will yield numerous methods for hastening the ripening of green bananas, as well as tips for preventing them from ripening too quickly. Avocados ripen or'soften' after being harvested as well!

Potatoes bear fruits that resemble small green tomatoes. They contain a neurotoxin called solanine, which can cause hallucinations, paralysis, or even death if consumed.

It's true whether you believe it or not. Pineapple contains an enzyme called bromelain, which is a little-known fact. If you read other sources, you'll notice that they all say pretty much the same thing. This enzyme degrades proteins in your mouth, specifically your taste buds. This can ruin your palate for the rest of the day until your mouth heals. A fun fact that many people believe is that the enzyme bromelain is used in meat tenderizer. Pineapple is a fruit, so it's good for you. However, you should let a freshly sliced pineapple sit in the fridge for a few minutes before eating it so the enzymes can break down.

Peppers are delicious, even if most people use them as a spice rather than a food. Cayenne peppers have the ability to promote blood clotting over wounds, which is a little-known fact. Cayenne pepper can be sprinkled into a wound to act as gauze, according to experts. This will assist in halting the bleeding. Eating cayenne pepper can also help to balance blood pressure and promote internal clotting. That is, whether you eat it or apply it directly to the wound, it will help it heal faster.

Synsepalum dulcificum, also known as "Miracle Fruit," makes sour foods taste sweet when consumed. An attempt was made in the 1970s to commercialise this fruit for this purpose, but it failed. There have been allegations that the sugar industry sabotaged their research in order to avoid losing business.

In subtropical growing regions (such as Brazil, which grows the most oranges in the world), temperatures are never cold enough to break down the chlorophyll in the fruit's skin, so it may still be yellow or green even when ripe. However, because American consumers are baffled by such a phenomenon, imported oranges are treated with ethylene gas to remove the chlorophyll and turn them orange.

If you ate a Macintosh apple and planted the seed, the tree that grew would produce apples that didn't look or taste like Macintoshes. Instead of planting seeds, growers graft a cutting from a genetically desirable tree onto an existing branch or sapling (called the "rootstock"), resulting in apples that are genetically identical to those on the tree from which it was cut. If you look closely at the tree in the photo, you can see that there are several different types of apples on the various branches, all of which are grafted onto the same rootstock tree.

Pilots are paid hundreds of dollars per day to stand by during the summer in case it rains and trees require emergency blow-drying. It may appear absurd, but it is worthwhile for farmers who grow the delicate, expensive fruit. The work is hazardous; pilots are frequently injured in orchard crashes.

Here's a fun (and potentially hazardous) science experiment: If you split a grape almost in half and microwave it, it will explode into a fireball of plasma and lighting. Microwaves generate heat by using microwave radiation, according to scientists. When you microwave "nothing" — in this case, a very small grape that doesn't absorb enough power — the electromagnetic waves have nothing to work on and become concentrated.

Since you were a child, you've probably heard the phrase "candy will rot your teeth." However, there are many foods that are worse for your dental hygiene than candy, such as crackers. This is because acid, not sugar, is the leading cause of tooth decay.

We may think of processed cheese as a uniquely American invention (think Kraft and Cheez Whiz), but it turns out that the Swiss invented it first. According to the Michigan Dairy Review, processed cheese was invented in 1911 by Walter Gerber and Fritz Stettler in Switzerland to improve the shelf-life of cheese before it was shipped overseas.