Food Myths You Shouldn’t Believe

We may think we know everything there is to know about food, but the facts keep changing on us. For example, the food pyramid now is completely different than what we learned in school. Well, that’s not the only thing we’ve been fooled about! Keep reading to learn the food myths you should stop listening to.

Meat, Olive Oil, and Cookie Dough

Despite what you may have been told, searing meat doesn’t lock in the juices. On the contrary, any form of cooking meat will dry it out a bit. Of course, that’s worth it, but do know that searing it isn’t keeping the moisture in. Also, you may have been taught that adding olive oil to pasta water will prevent the noodles from sticking together. Sadly, you’ve been misled. Oil and water don’t mix, so there’s no way for oil to equally distribute itself within the water. The only way to prevent the noodles from sticking to each other is to stir them regularly. As kids, we were told that eating cookie dough is okay as long as it doesn’t contain raw eggs. In reality, even eggless cookie dough is unsafe to eat, as it contains raw flour, which is a common source of food poisoning.

Cheddar Cheese and Coffee

If you’re one of those people who debate whether to buy cheddar cheese or white cheese when at the supermarket, just know that they’re actually both the same color. Cheddar cheese’s orange hue is completely artificial. The real difference in flavor is related to how aged the cheddar is – not its color.

Also, if you’re trying to get to bed early and want a decaf coffee for the flavor, that may not be the best idea. The truth is that decaf coffee does contain caffeine, just a significantly lower level of it than a coffee that’s labeled ‘caffeinated.’ Regular coffee usually has 95 milligrams of caffeine, while decaf coffee often contains just 2 milligrams.