Chocolate Used As Currency, Carrots Being Purple And More; 8 Interesting Facts About Food From Olden Times You Didn't Know

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Saffron remains the world's most expensive spice, with just a pound of it requiring around 75,000 purple crocus flowers to produce.

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World's most expensive spice

Ancient Romans used to add lead to their wine to sweeten it, unknowingly poisoning themselves in the process.

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Lead To Wine

Carrots were originally purple or white, with the familiar orange variety only being developed by Dutch growers in the 17th century.

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Purple Carrots

The first recorded cookbook was written on clay tablets in ancient Mesopotamia around 1700 BCE.

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First recorded cookbook

Honey is the only known food that never spoils - archaeologists have found 3,000-year-old honey in Egyptian tombs that is still perfectly edible.

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3,000-year-old honey

In medieval Europe, peacock was considered such a luxury food that wealthy hosts would often have the bird re-dressed in its feathers after cooking to serve at banquets.

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Peacock luxury food

The pineapple was so rare in colonial America that people would often rent one for display at dinner parties to demonstrate their wealth and status.

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Pineapple In Colonial America

The practice of toasting drinks began in ancient Rome, where hosts would take the first sip to prove to guests that the wine wasn't poisoned.

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Toasting drinks

Which of these facts did you know?

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