Fruit for Thought

When I think of the words fun and facts usually what comes to mind for me is facts about fruit. Facts about fruit is something I’ve always had knowledge about since first grade when I had received my first iPod touch, and downloaded the country’s most popular app that year: Fruit Ninja. One of my favorite things about Fruit Ninja besides the game itself was the little “Sensei’s Fruit Facts” that would appear after you completed a game. Those facts stuck to me ever since and have found its way into my daily life along with becoming my best friend when it comes to times like these, a time when a challenge asks of you to go on a “fact-finding journey”.

For my “fact-finding journey” I took to the game “Fruit Ninja 2” (yes, there is a two now!) for a fruit slaying knowledge refresher course. Along with the ones I remember, and still use, here are some fruit facts that may be common or uncommon to you, but will either way brighten your day or make you want to download fruit ninja all over again.

FRUIT FACTS:

* We all know who an Apple a day keeps away, but did you know “the average person eats 65 apples a year”?

* When we think of strawberries we instantly think of their sweetness and when we think of lemons we think of its sour taste of acidity, but did you know “Lemons contain more sugar than strawberries”?

* Laundry is a chore that has its levels but when washing your whites did you know that you can add “half a cup of lemon juice to your laundry to brighten whites”?

* Before your discard your banana peels, keep them on hand after eating if you have a certain pair of leather shoes you want polished as “the inside of a banana peel can be used to polish leather shoes.”

* A new fact to an almond, peach, and rose as myself, did you know almonds and peaches are “members of the Rose family?”

* While Odysseus is the protagonist of The Odyssey by Homer, remember the use of fruit in The Odyssey? Pears are mentioned more than any other fruit in the epic poem.

* When we see banana plants we most likely think they’re all trees but that’s actually not the case! Banana plants are “actually giant herbs.”

* Those seeds you see when you get to the core of your Apple? Those seeds are actually mildly poisonous seeds but no worries, “not enough to be dangerous to humans.”

* Have a mosquito bite? Did you know rubbing a banana peel on your bite can “stop the itchiness.”

* Allergic to latex? There’s probably a great chance that you are also allergic to kiwi fruit.

* We know, of course, from its name that it’s mainly water but just how much water is in a watermelon? 92%!

* While bananas have many great benefits, they are also beneficial in terms of B-complex vitamins which “can help calm the nervous system.”

Aren’t all those facts about fruit just amazing? For me, especially in the first grade they were pretty great, and so thrilling to learn what these fruits can do, their benefits, and where they come from. It was fun to learn then, and so fun to share now. I was so excited to bring these facts out and revisit them and the game for this challenge. I’ll now be incorporating more of these along with old ones into my daily routines. Along with a game of Fruit Ninja 2 of course, since I think we should thank Sensei for his knowledge of importantly, fruit but also fruit slaying too.... right?