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What are some commonly known facts that are too bizarre for you to believe to be true? (lemm.ee)

submitted 1 year ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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For me it is the fact that our blood contains iron. I earlier used to believe the word stood for some 'organic element' since I couldn't accept we had metal flowing through our supposed carbon-based bodies, till I realized that is where the taste and smell of blood comes from.

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[–] [email protected] 90 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (3 children)

Not exactly bizarre, but it’s fun to learn that the delicious fragrance of shrimps and crabs when cooked comes from chitin, and chitin is also why sautéed mushrooms smell/taste like shrimps.

And since fungi are mostly chitin, plants have evolved defenses against fungi by producing enzymes that destroy chitin, which is how some plants eventually evolved the ability to digest insects.

EDIT: a previous version of this post mistakenly confused chitin with keratin (which our fingernails are made of). Thanks to sndrtj for the correction!

[–] [email protected] 24 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Chitin is not produced by mammals.

Fingernails are composed primarily out of keratin (same as hair and skin).

[–] [email protected] 9 points 1 year ago

Oops! I stand corrected.

[–] [email protected] 18 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Wow I didn't know this and I've never felt a similarity between seafood and mushrooms either in flavour or smell. But, still a cool fact.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago (1 children)

It's one of those things that feels really obvious if you cook a lot of east/south Asian dishes - shrimp sauce and mushroom soy sauce have a pretty similar aftersmell to them because they're so concentrated

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

I'll be honest, I'm not much into cooking Asian. I'm also not a frequent crustacean eater, but I eat mushrooms regularlish. I'll pay more attention from now on, but I would have never otherwise thought of making a link between the two

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

Huh. Oddly I am allergic to shrimp and lobster, but love mushrooms. To me they don't smell the same though. Though this fact probably explains why veg oyster sauce is mushrooms.