Rich’s not-so-common misconception about food #2

A few months ago, when it was National Artichoke Hearts Day, I wrote about how I used to think that artichokes were animals.

But I just realized I have a number of other wrong ideas I’ve had about food at one time or another.  Small wonder I’m not a chef.

When I was a young teen, I made a startling discovery.  Well, it startled me anyway.  I was reading the ingredients on the back of a jar of Marshmallow Fluff.  (A key component of a Fluffernutter — the best non-meat sandwich in the world!)  I noticed something strange.  It contained milk, eggs, sugar, etc.  But no marshmallows!

I was with a friend and I said, “Hey, this stuff is fake!  It doesn’t contain any real marshmallows!”  He looked at me in what must have been disbelief for a second, then said, “Uh, those things are what marshmallows are made of.”

What?!  I thought marshmallows were an actual plant, like you grow marshmallows!  Now I had never actually heard of a marshmallow farmer, but I guess I figured that somewhere out there were people who, every October, went out and harvested the marshmallows, then went down and sold them at the market, so I could have them to roast, put in my hot chocolate, and make s’mores and sandwiches out of!

But strangely enough, after being embarrassed about that, I found out that there really is a marshmallow plant!  A couple hundred years ago, the root of it was actually used to make marshmallows.  So I guess in a way, I was right!

Ha!  Look it up!