Not every food product is the result of a thorough R&D department.
You would be surprised by how many foods were not created on purpose!
Whether it be trial and error, or happy mishaps, here are 10 Foods That Were Invented By Accident
- part 2.
Nashville Hot Chicken
Along with Nashville’s Country Music Hall of Fame and the Grand Ole Opry, Nashville
Hot Chicken is an attraction.
This dish was originally concocted as a revenge dish about eighty years ago.
What is a revenge dish?
Haven’t you heard the saying, “revenge is a dish best served cold”?
Well, actually… in the case of Nashville Hot Chicken, revenge was served and spiced
on a dish meant to be as hot as it possibly could.
It was given to a guy named Thornton Prince by one of his girlfriends.
We say one of, because he was known to be a womanizer.
Upon returning home late one evening, again, his girlfriend decided for breakfast to serve
him up the spiciest hot chicken she could make in order to punish him for his wrong
doings.
However, her attempt at getting back at him back-fired.
Thornton loved the food!
Apparently he was such a fan that in 1936 he opened up a restaurant called BBQ Chicken
Shack.
Evidently, in her attempt at punishing her boyfriend through his taste buds, she inadvertently
gave him a life changing idea - we hope she got some credit and compensation for it.
Thornton’s restaurant went on to do very, very well.
You cannot go to Nashville without trying a piece of Hot Chicken.
Saccharin
Before we start discussing how and why Saccharin came about by accident, why don’t we go
over what it is?
Saccharine is an artificial sweetener.
It is said to have a bitter metallic aftertaste (not super appetizing, but maybe it does the
trick for some people), and it is three hundred to four hundred times as sweet as sucrose,
more commonly known as regular sugar.
It is primarily used in sweetened colas and sweet treats.
It’s most common form in the US is “Sweet’n Low”.
It was produced in 1879 in a laboratory at Johns Hopkins University by Constantin Fahlberg.
What happened was this: he left his lab one evening after working on the compound benzoic
sulfimide; he must have wiped his mouth with the top of his hand or something of the like,
and as he did this, he noticed that his hand tasted sweet.
Immediately recognizing the potential of this discovery, Fahlberg sought the patent for
the compound and began preparing it for market.
He started factories.
He began to sell the compound as saccharine.
Eventually, he grew wealthy.
However, there was another lab technician who had been working with Fahlberg who felt
as though he had been snubbed and deserved some of the fame, profit, and overall personal
glory that comes with inventing something.
His name was Ira Remsen.
When the First World War came around, the price of sugar sky-rocketed.
This was a perfect opportunity for Saccharine to take over the market.
And it did.
Its popularity grew and grew.
This increase continued all the way into the 1960’s and 70’s when low calorie sweeteners
were all the rage.
Remsen never got any kind of revenge on his lab partner Fahlberg; however, his name was
listed in the paper which announced the discovery back in 1879.
Cheese Puffs
Cheese puffs were a total accident.
They came into being when a company that was making animal feed had a problem with strings
of puffed corn oozing from their flaking machines.
These longs puffs were eventually experimented with and turned into a snack!
It was as easy as that!
That being said, bringing a new item to market is not as easy as all that.
Anyone who has watched Shark Tank knows that!
Imagining the left over stringy pieces coming out of the animal feed flaking machine is
one thing.
But holding a patent, marketing, and earning a profit is a whole other ball game.
Cheese Puffs underwent numerous names (such as Korn Kurls and CheeWees), patent holders,
and corporations.
They did not come to market simply.
But, all in all that is alright because now we have Cheese Puffs, and it is all thanks
to a little malfunction on a flaking machine.
Chimichangas
When you look up “Chimichanga” definition on google it says a chimichanga is a “tortilla
wrapped around a filling, typically meat, and deep-fried.”
When you look at this definition you may think to yourself… well, that is just a burrito
that has been deep-fried.
In fact, yes.
A chimichanga is just a deep-fried burrito.
There are several possible origin stories for this one, but a prevailing possibility
is that it was invented by Woody Johnson in 1946.
What happened is he put a few burritos in a deep fryer as an experiment.
He then served his creation as “fried burritos” at his restaurant El Nido in Phoenix, Arizona.
They became very popular.
In 1952 the restaurant changed its name and so did the fried burrito.
Suddenly, Woody Johnson was working at Macayo’s and serving a chimichanga.
Bam.
The chimichanga was invented and loved.
Doesn’t this make you hungry?
Doesn’t it make you want a nice big deep-fried burrito?
Topped with some sour cream, maybe some finely chopped green onion.
Some guacamole.
Delicious!
Brandy
Back in the early Sixteenth Century, wine consumption was through the roof.
Wine was being transported from continent to continent, usually by ship, and making
a few people a lot of money.
One clever Dutchman figured out a way to make more room for his wine on his ship, increasing
the amount he was able to carry, and therefore, the amount he could sell and the money he
could make.
Hooray for efficiency and putting your best foot forward!
This gentleman’s secret way was to remove some of the water from his wine through distillation,
and then add the water the wine needed once he arrived at the port he desired.
So his wine was basically less volume because it was missing water.
What he accidentally discovered was that the wines actually appreciated in the casks over
time.
Without the water, their compounds changed and it began to taste like what we know brandy
to be today.
You just never know what you will find when you begin to play with and alter compounds!
Hopefully, safely.
Corn Flakes
Kellogg’s Cereal, later known as Corn Flakes, were created in 1894 by John Harvey Kellogg.
John was superintendent of the Battle Creek Sanitarium and a Seventh-day Adventist.
The Adventist church proposed a strictly vegetarian diet.
As superintendent of the Sanitarium, John was given many of their recipes which included
variations on grains, wheat, oats, rice, barley, and corn.
Kellogg, and the church, believed that these bland foods would be better for mankind, and
his patients in particular, because supposedly spicy and interesting foods would increase
one’s passionate desires, so to speak.
So, he was experimenting on bland diet options with his brother, Will Keith Kellogg.
One day, Will had been cooking some wheat on the stove, when hospital matters stole
his attention away from the task.
He must have been gone quite a while, because when he returned, the wheat had gone stale.
He did not want to throw away the food, so he continued his process of pushing it through
rollers to obtain a dough, and much to his surprise he got dry flakes instead.
The brothers decided to toast these flakes and serve them to the patients.
They then filed for a patent on May 31, 1895, and that is how Corn Flake Cereal came to
be!
Popsicles
Not only was this next item on our list invented completely by accident, but it was also invented
by a kid!
That’s right, an eleven year old boy invented the Popsicle!
This young man’s name was Frank Epperson and he was from San Francisco.
He was born in 1894, and like most children of his time, enjoyed treating himself to sodas.
Back then it was popular to mix soda powder with water to get a soda.
It was very simple, you just poured the power in, added water, and stirred.
Just like when you used to make Kool-Aid when you were a kid.
When you made Kool-Aid you probably used a spoon.
Well, when Frank Epperson made his soda he did not use a spoon, but a stirring stick.
This little detail was crucial to the invention of the Popsicle, as you can imagine.
One winter evening Frank Epperson made his soda, however he forgot it outside.
Quite a chill crept up on San Francisco that evening and the drink froze.
When he found it the next morning there it was: a solid piece of soda on a stick.
Eighteen years later he acquired the patent for “frozen ice on a stick” and branded
it the “Eppsicle.”
So, how did the name change from “Eppsicle” to Popsicle?
It was Frank Epperson’s kids who took to calling it Popsicle, and the rest is history!
Nachos
Nachos.
Most People love them.
But, how and where did this now infamous snack begin?
Let’s go back to August 15, 1895, in Manuel Benavides, Chihuahua, Mexico.
On this day, baby Ignacio Anaya was born.
Without him there would be no nachos to eat and that would be very, very sad.
Little baby Ignacio would grow up to be chef Ignacio “Nacho” Anaya at the Victory Club
in Piedras Negras, Mexico.
Those who know their geography will know that this Mexican spot is just across the border
from Eagle Pass, Texas.
One day when working at the Victory Club, a group of women from the Eagle Pass Army
Airfield arrived.
However, the restaurant was already closing for the night and ingredients were limited.
But, the ingenious Ignacio “Nacho” Anaya did not fear, he created!
He cut up some tortillas into triangles, sprinkled them with cheese and jalapeño peppers, and
then heated them quickly to melt the cheese.
The dish was a smashing hit and would continue to be served at the restaurant as “Nacho’s
Especiales,” Nacho’s special.
After sometime, Ignacio opened his own establishment in Eagle Pass.
He called it “El Nacho”!
Beer
Apparently beer is one of the oldest known drinks made by humans.
There are numerous beverages on the planet that do not necessarily require any human
intervention: such as water, cow’s milk, and so on.
However, a drink like beer needs to be produced.
Beer dates back to roughly 3400 B.C.E..
Archeologists have been able to make these claims due to ceramic pots that were excavated
and dated, which contained a sticky beer-like residue.
The most interesting thing is that pots with beer residue have been found in numerous places
all over the world.
The assumption is that beer was independently produced by numerous tribes and cultures.
Specialists believe beer was created by accident by wild yeasts in the air, landing in pots
and fermenting the drinks.
Beer, and the eventual conscious fermentation of it, is one of the things that show humanity’s
ability to develop technology.
Essentially, the accidental invention of beer, which occurred in numerous places independently
over a large span of time, helped to push civilizations forward.
Pretty darn neat!
Champagne
Champagne rocks.
It is a glorious creation that is now synonymous with living a good life.
Champagne is a drink for celebrations.
Some may think it is demonstrative of wealth, since real Champagne can be pricey.
But other types of sparkling wine can be much more affordable, and if you like the taste
of bubbles, then you should not have to wait until New Year’s Eve or an anniversary to
pop a bottle open.
A Benedictine monk named Dom Perignon is credited with the invention of this sparkling wine
in the 1600s, and while he did have an important role to play, the actual origin story of this
drink took many people and many years.
Champagne, as we now know it, was created by accident in the 1500s.
You see, the area Champagne in France was having some trouble with the wine they were
making.
Due to the cool climate there, the wine fermentation process would stop prematurely once temperatures
dropped, and then would restart in warmer weather, once the dormant yeast woke back
up and began fermenting again.
This would cause a drastic increase in pressure in the bottles, often making them explode.
Today there are two steps to the fermentation process in making Champagne, and much has
been changed, modified, and perfected in the process of making a good sparkling wine.
And all thanks to an explosively good accident.
Why wait for more great BabbleTop videos.
Just tap that screen.
And if it’s your first time here, show us some love and pound that subscribe button
and knock that bell to join our notification squad.