Oklahoma’s State Fruit is…the Watermelon? (Facts about Food Friday)

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Facts about Food Friday

If this were a tomato we were talking about, I would understand. A tomato fits some characteristics of both a vegetable and a fruit, and we tend to use it for either general purpose, so there’s some confusion.

But the watermelon? Yes, I did my research. Yes, I know that there are some claims like how it’s part of the cucumber family, and therefore, could be considered a vegetable… But come on.

Even if it were 100% vegetable, I would say the vast majority of people think of it as a fruit. Maybe the vast majority of people are completely wrong even, but when you name your state vegetable as being the watermelon, you’re the one who looks stupid… Ah well. We probably didn’t have that high hopes for you anyway, Oklahoma. ;)

7 Up wasn’t always so easy to remember (Fun Facts about Food)

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Facts about Food Friday

Bib-Label Lithiated Lemon-Lime Soda

That’s about what the original developer thought would be an appropriate name for people to have to say every time they wanted his lemon-lime drink.

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Until 1950, like a lot of other sodas that weren’t purely sweet drinks, it also had a mood stabilizing drug (lithium citrate) in it. Given the obesity epidemic, maybe we should go back to the time where sodas were considered medications instead of constant kid drinks. ;)

Canadians like their….full two scoops! (Facts about Food Friday)

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Facts about Food Friday

While most people probably recognize “two scoops” of raisins as part of the slogan for Raisin Bran, it’s not something I have heard much of in recent years.

I assumed they still made the cereal, but it’s not exactly a cereal you see on TV much any more, is it? I would say it was way more popular in the 80s and isn’t necessarily a cereal that current elementary school kids are begging their mothers for. I could be wrong, though! It’s not like I’m a subject matter expert on TV considering I rarely watch it.

Regardless, I know the box; I know the cereal; I know the jingle; I know the smiling sunshine. I even vaguely remember a TV show back in the 80s where they counted the raisins and wanted to sue because there weren’t enough raisins or something like that. I want to say it was Mama’s Family, but again, not a TV expert. ;)

The first time I saw it in Canada, though, I was supposed to see that Two Scoops is what they know it as! You can see that “raisin bran” is listed in the middle still, but that’s as a description of the cereal….not as the name.

Upon further looking, I discovered that back in the 40s in the US, it was determined that you can’t trademark “raisin bran” because it’s merely the ingredients or characteristics of the ingredients, so if anyone else wanted to describe their cereal with the same words, they would be allowed to.

This is why you’ll find that Kellogg’s (the owner of all of the ‘two scoops’ branding), General Mills, and Post all three have cereals named “Raisin Bran.” In Canada, however, only Kellogg’s is going to be seen as “Two Scoops” instead, helping it stand out against the competition. :D

Oh, and in case you’re wondering, yes, there ARE two scoops in every box, but the size of the scoop is what’s going to vary. ;) They actually put in the raisins based on weight and it increases proportionally with the size of the box. For an average size box on the supermarket shelf, it’s roughly 1/2 cup per scoop, for a total of one cup of raisins in the whole box.