in

Snacks: 10 surprising facts about your favourite nibbles!

Credit: Pixabay / TheUjulala

Snack foods are delicious and addictive but they have many secrets to hide!  Find out what is hidden in your favourite nibbles… you might be surprised! 

Snacking between meals is not good for your health.  However  we can often grant ourselves a little treat from time to time.  We have such a wide choice from crisps, biscuits and sweets.  However the following list of snacks might get you to change your mind.  We won’t let you wait any longer, here are 10 surprising facts about our favourite nibbles!

1/ Pretzels: snacks that are coated in bicarbonate of soda

This salted snack is very popular in Germany.  The dough is carefully prepared before being molded into the classic pretzel shape.  However do you know how pretzels obtain their brown crust and crunch ?  In fact the dough is dipped in warm water and bicarbonate of soda.  Without this important ingredient your pretzels would come out of the oven as white as snow!

bretzels snacks
Credits : moerschy/Pixbay

2/ Dried fruit and nuts not healthy if eaten in large doses

Nut are delicious! They can come in all shapes and sizes from peanuts, cashew nuts to walnuts and can be either salted or unsalted.  The majority of people believe that nuts and dried fruit are a healthy snack.  However this is not necessarily the case.  In fact 30 g of raw pistachios is the equivalent to 174 kg/calories.  For roasted cashew nuts 30 g equals 199 kg/calories.  Lipids found in nuts can increase your weight so it is best not to eat too many every day!

fruits secs snacks
Credits : piviso/Pixabay

3/ Industrially fried foods and snacks have carcinogenic risks

Sticks of potato fried in oil sounds like heaven for lots of people.  This worldwide appreciation for chips means that they often accompany many types of dishes and can be eaten alone.  However you shouldn’t eat too many as they are high in calories and are full of acrylamide.  This carcinogenic substance can be found in foods that are rich in starch after being cooked at high temperatures.  It is therefore recommended that you prepare your chips yourself by making sure that your oil is no hotter than 120° C.

frites snacks
Credits: Ande_Hazel/Pixabay

4/ Fruit pastilles – 100% natural fruit juice but coated with sugar

If you make them yourself or if you buy them from a reliable producer your fruit pastilles will be made with real fruit.  The most popular fruit bases are quince however you can make these delicious sweets with any type of fruit.  It will cook much quicker at low temperatures over short periods of time.  Just like for jam, you need to use pectin to make the mixture gelatinous.  Home made fruit pastilles are therefore very easy to make yourself with completely natural products.  However watch how much sugar you add!

pates de fruits snacks
Credits : Max Pixel

5/ Cheese – not always ethical

Cheese can come in many forms.  It can be eaten alone with bread or oatcakes, used to flavour dishes or as an accompaniment. Cheese is always a treat when you are a fan! But did you know that the majority of cheeses are made from rennet. It is a coagulant found in the fourth stomach of young animals, also called “abomasum“. The only way to get it is to macerate abomasum after slaughtering small animals.  This is one of the main arguments against dairy consumption.  Nevertheless, there are coagulants with a vegetable origin, or which develop with fermentation.

fromage snacks
Credits: Google Images