Some of the foods we reach for every day weren’t the result of careful planning, but of happy mistakes: a batch of dough left out in the rain, a pot of grain left cooking too long, a broken drinks machine. From the cold beer at your local and the dash of Worcestershire sauce in your gravy, to the Corn Flakes in your breakfast bowl and the icy pole on a hot summer’s day, plenty of pantry and freezer favourites exist because someone got it wrong at just the right moment. Here are 13 of the tastiest accidents in food history.
Beer
The earliest reference of beer in history is from the 6th century BC in Sumeria, according to Smithsonian. No one is 100 per cent sure, but most people believe beer was invented by accident during bread making. Horst Dornbusch, a beer consultant and author, told Smithsonian that someone was probably making bread outdoors before stopping for rainfall. Then, after forgetting about the wet dough, they came back to a fermented liquid.
Worcestershire sauce
Lord Sandys of Worcester, England, was craving his favourite Indian sauce after returning home from governing Bengal, India. He asked chemists John Lea and William Perrins to come up with something similar. The pair made too much of the mixture and decided not to sell it in their shop because of the fishy smell. They kept it in their cellar for two years before rediscovering, bottling and selling it to customers.
Corn Flakes
Dr John Harvey Kellogg and his brother, Will Keith Kellogg, operated a sanitarium in Battle Creek, Michigan, back in the late 1890s. While looking for foods to feed their patients that were part of their strictly vegetarian diet, the duo accidentally left wheatberry cooking in the kitchen, causing the kernels to flake. They continued to experiment with their newly discovered breakfast food, eventually experimenting with corn and creating the Corn Flakes we know and love today.
Chocolate chip cookies
The creation of the chocolate chip cookie is extremely relatable. Ruth Graves Wakefield was making her signature cookies, but she ran out of baker’s chocolate. She improvised and broke up a Nestlé chocolate bar instead, hoping it would melt. Instead, she accidentally invented chocolate chip cookies.
Champagne
Although not verifiable, most people credit Dom Pérignon with the creation of Champagne. The Benedictine monk was responsible for overseeing wine production at the abbey. He was asked to get rid of bubbles forming in a few of the wines. He couldn’t, and instead tasted the bubbly drink. Pérignon reportedly said, “Come quickly, I am drinking the stars!”
Ice cream cones
Technically, Italo Marchiony first produced the ice cream cone and had a patent in December 1903. However, Ernest A. Hamwi also deserves some credit for the invention. At the 1904 St Louis World’s Fair, Hamwi sold a crispy waffle-like pastry right next to an ice cream vendor. The ice cream vendor ran out of dishes, so Hamwi rolled up his waffle in the shape of a cone, and the rest is history.
Raisins
Back in 2000 BC, people found dried grapes on vines. These raisins were used for decoration, before becoming popular trading items, prizes at sporting events and even medicine.
Yoghurt
If you’ve ever let a milk carton sit out for too long, you’re kind of on your way to making yoghurt. That’s the theory many people believe about yoghurt’s accidental creation, at least. At some point, raw milk was exposed to bacteria in warm climates, causing the milk’s fermentation into a creamy yoghurt.
Popsicles
Frank Epperson was 11 years old when he invented the Popsicle, known in Australia as the icy pole and in New Zealand as the ice block. After playing with a mixture of water and powdered soft drink mix, Epperson left his concoction outside. It froze overnight with his wooden stir stick lodged inside and turned out to be an awesome historical accident. He tasted it and knew he had something amazing on his hands. Epperson sold his “Epsicles” around the neighbourhood and eventually at amusement parks. As an adult, he patented his product. But his kids couldn’t get used to the name, calling them “Pop’sicles”. Unfortunately, Epperson couldn’t afford to keep the business, sold it, and later said he never reaped the financial reward of his creation.
Slurpees
Dairy Queen owner Omar Knedlik had a broken soft drink machine. So one day in the late 1950s, he put a few bottles of soft drink in the freezer, resulting in a frozen slushie-like drink. People loved it and started specifically asking for that frozen drink. He eventually built his own machine to combine and freeze a flavour mix, water and carbon dioxide before his product was sold to convenience stores and, eventually, 7-Eleven.
Nashville hot chicken
This famous dish stems from revenge. Thornton Prince III came home late one night after gallivanting, but his girlfriend had had enough of him and wanted to teach him a lesson. She prepared his favourite chicken dish with lots of extra cayenne and spices. Ironically, Prince loved the heat, made a few tweaks to the recipe and sold it at his BBQ Chicken Shack.
Pink lemonade
Plain lemonade dates back to the arrival of European immigrants in the 17th century. But pink lemonade has a more eclectic background. According to Smithsonian, the earliest mentions of pink lemonade also mention travelling circuses. One theory is that Henry E. Allot invented pink lemonade by accidentally dropping red-coloured cinnamon lollies into his mix sold at a circus. The other, gross theory is that Pete Conklin ran out of water for his lemonade stand, and used the dirty water that had cleaned pink-coloured tights as a stand-in.
Dippin’ Dots
There are about 2000 Dippin’ Dots in a cup. That sounds like a lot, but the mini frozen ice cream bits are tiny. Curt Jones spent his days working in a lab developing flash freezing, but at night he applied his knowledge to his homemade ice cream making. According to Thrillist, he simply aimed his liquid nitrogen at his homemade ice cream, creating the dots.
Source: rd.com
