Three Things You Didn’t Know About Fruit, Contributed by @princewahaj

We love fruits because of their delicious flavors, wonderful shapes, and beautiful colors. That's the reason why fruits travel from all over the world to our nearest store and that's exactly from where we buy them. It is no secret that fruits have healing benefits and is good for our overall health but did you know that the supermarket of fruits holds some amazing secrets? If not, read on!

Actually, it was very shocking for me when I came to know that a watermelon could be sold even with $200 price tag. Damn! That's so high and we could buy a lot of other things for $200 but why watermelon? And well, the story doesn't end here. We have the substitute of Prozac and that's Banana.

And who can deny that those are everyday fruits that we consume and man, how could we miss those amazing facts about those fruits! But it's not late, even not for me too. I wasn't aware of those amazing facts until now. That's why I've decided to amaze you too.

What came first? The Orange Color or The Orange Itself? and How it was named?

This fruit could make the difference between life and death of sailors and pirates alike. It's difficult to keep the fresh food for a longer time if you are on long journeys and that too when you are at the center of the sea. The lack of Vitamin C could result in Scurvy. But the question is, what came first? The orange color or the orange fruit? In the mother of all coincidences, the orange color was named after the fruit and not the other way around, the name "Orange" is not given because of its color.

The interesting part is, when orange was spotted, it was called 'geoluhread" in English which translates to 'Yellow red'. Thankfully, the Spanish were kind enough to introduce a much easier word 'Naranja' which translates to "Orange Tree". Later, the English transformed the word from "Orange Tree" to "Orange".

And you know the interesting part? The Oranges from Brazil are not only green but are ripe enough that tastes delicious. It proves that not all oranges are in fact orange.

Banana or Prozac?

Bananas are radioactive but luckily not that much. However, the fruit contains some chemicals that would make people think that they are some kind of super-heroes. Those chemicals stimulate the production of serotonin and dopamine in the brain and hey, that's the same reaction which happens when you consume Prozac, isn't it?

The interesting part is, if you can eat 10M bananas at once, then you are probably going to die. You might be wondering that where the numbers are coming from, right?

This question was originally asked on Quora and it was answered by Ramzi Amri, MD, Ph.D., a physician. He also mentioned that if you're eating 274 bananas a day for 7 years, you'll start to witness chronic symptoms. But does it mean that you should stop consuming Bananas? No way, but yes, if you are going to eat 10M bananas at once or 274 bananas a day until 7 years, then you should definitely stop right there.

One Watermelon for $200!

If you weren't aware, then probably you're now scratching your head and thinking how a single watermelon could cost $200. The reason for such a costly watermelon is its shape. It is not round or oval, it is a squared watermelon. Such watermelons are specially made in Japan. They use metal or tempered glass boxes to force them into a square shape, but what's the reason? Maybe to make it easier to store it in the fridge?

Here is a video showing how these melons are grown:

The amazing part is that it tastes exactly the same as regular watermelons. It has the exact same inner color and also the same percentage of water. So, what's the difference? The only difference is its squared shape. Is it really a sound investment to make? Despite such a huge price tag, sadly some people think that it is.

A local grocery store at the Urban Fare Market says that they brought 10 square watermelons and 4 out of 10 sold very quickly. That was with the price tag of $199 per squared watermelon. The store says that there is no difference between regular watermelons and squared watermelons. They also revealed that it is not a new thing; people have been buying squared watermelons from a long time, despite the high price tag.

Final Words:

The most amazing part for me was the watermelon thing. I couldn't imagine that someone could buy a watermelon for $200 just because of its shape and no other difference. It seems like the business of squared watermelons is good enough in Canada. But I must say that I am impressed by its square shape too. Such watermelons could be sliced so easily but that doesn't mean that I'm going to spend $200 on a single watermelon!

Sources:

Oranges:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/men/the-filter/qi/8345477/QI-Quite-interesting-facts-about-orange.html

http://www.todayifoundout.com/index.php/2011/01/the-color-orange-was-named-after-the-fruit/

Bananas:

https://www.theguardian.com/observer/focus/story/0,6903,746576,00.html

http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-15288975

https://www.forbes.com/sites/quora/2016/10/18/yes-bananas-are-radioactive-and-yes-you-should-keep-eating-them-anyway/

Square watermelon:
https://bc.ctvnews.ca/200-square-watermelons-are-selling-despite-the-price-tag-1.1915180

Image: Creative Commons via Flickr.com by Laughlin. Other images are CC0's from Pixabay.