Ten Foods That Were Invented by Accident

Accidents happen. What happens next is up to us, but the best way to deal with an accidental occurrence is to live and learn. It happened, it’s over; what did you learn from it? Sometimes accidents are unpleasant, but sometimes they’re genius. Like the time you accidentally forgot to put your car in park and barely hit the car in front of you and it turned out he was the man of your dreams and you married him and lived happily ever after. Well, some of your favorite foods were accidentally invented, too, which is probably why they’re so delicious.

Cornflakes

It 1894 and Seventh Day Adventists and brothers Will and Dr. John Harvey Kellogg were looking for a new recipe for their vegetarian patients. Brother Will accidentally tossed some boiled wheat on the counter and left it out overnight. It was stale the following morning so the duo decided to try and roll it out into dough, but it turned to flakes instead. They decided to toast them and patients fell in love. The two went onto create Kellogg’s, but when Dr. John Kellogg added sugar to the recipe, Will backed out because he wasn’t happy with lowering the nutritional value of the flakes.

Crepes

Henri Charpentier, a French waiter, is credited with inventing Crepe Suzette. This crepe is made with caramelized alcohol and used to make several decadent French treats. The accident occurred in 1895 when he burned the sauce he was making at a restaurant. The sauce was being made for the Prince of Wales, who later became King Edward VII. The Prince was not angry that the sauce was burnt. Instead, he decided it was delicious and asked the waiter to name it after his lady friend, Suzette, who was with him at the time of the incident. It became an international favorite rather quickly.

Popsicles

Would you believe that your favorite summer snack from childhood was accidentally created back in 1905? A man by the name of Frank Epperson mixed some soda water with a stick and left it sitting on his porch on a cold night after forgetting it was there. The next morning he awoke to find that the popsicle had been created. He thought it was pretty cool, showed it off to some friends and the next thing you know, popsicles are the biggest thing to hit supermarket shelves since, well, supermarkets. Now they’re an everywhere summer staple, especially for little kids.

Iceberg Lettuce

Before iceberg lettuce was all the rage, people used something called crisphead lettuce. It didn’t last long and wasn’t really all that good. However, it was what they had back then. In 1920, lettuce season brought about a crop that was initially thought to be trash. It was too pale and too crunchy. Farmers, instead of trashing it, tried it and realized that it was actually delicious and it lasted a lot longer than other lettuces, making it more efficient to keep at home in the fridge. They used their crop planting mistakes to re-make this lettuce the  following year and have been doing it ever since.

Tofu

Perhaps you’re not a fan of tofu and maybe you are. If you’re not, you’re going to wish it was never accidentally created. If you are, you might be interested in learning where this particular health food originated. While it’s mere speculation, it is believed that tofu actually came from a mistake in the midst of a Chinese cooking moment. It’s said that soybeans were accidentally placed with impure sea salt. This caused the mixture to become a little bit gel-like. It’s all history from that point on; tofu was created and health nuts everywhere went crazy for this creation.

Ice Cream Cones

At the 1904 St. Louis World’s Fair a Syrian by the name of Ernest Hamwi did what he could to help out a fellow vendor who was selling ice cream. The ice cream man ran out of bowls and cups and had nothing in which to serve his ice cream. Hamwi took some of his waffles and folded them into cones and the waffle cone was born. The people at the fair loved the waffle cone, coming back for more to enjoy the sweet flavor of the waffle in combination with the sweet taste of the ice cream.

Chips

If you ever decide to send back your food, you might be surprised to see that it creates a new menu item at your favorite restaurant. That’s what happened back in the mid-1800s when a patron at the Saratoga Springs Moon’s Lake House sent his potatoes back to the chef again and again because he wanted them a bit crisper. George Crum, the now angry and insulted chef, cut the potatoes into thin slices and deep fried them for a few minutes. He covered them with salt (probably trying to clog his customer’s arteries) and sent them to the table. That’s how potato chips were born.

Raisins

Of course raisins were created by accident. They are, after all, dried out grapes. This discovery came about back in the late 1490s when ancient Egyptians noticed that some of the grapes on their vines had shriveled up and died. Most thought they were dangerous to consume, and others ate them anyway. It was found that they were actually good (they tasted like raisins) and from that point on they were used for many things such as medicine, snacking and even tax payment. If only the IRS would accept our tax liability in raisins these days.

Chocolate Chip Cookies

Back in 1930, Ruth Wakefield was baking a bit of dough at her Massachusetts Inn, named the Toll House Inn. She realized too late that she was not in possession of any baking chocolate and did what we all occasionally do; she improvised. She took a semi-sweet chocolate bar, mashed it up into chunks and mixed it with her dough. Imagine her surprise to take dough out of the oven to see that the chocolate did not melt. Instead, it stayed firm inside the dough. After trying a bite, she realized she had a winner on her hands.

Worcestershire Sauce

Sometime in the 19^th century, chemists in Britain by the names of William Henry Perrins and John Wheely Lea were asked to create a sauce that was tangy enough for someone who loved Indian food. Unfortunately, the sauce they created was awful. They were horrified at their mistake and placed sauce in a container, forgetting about it for a few years. When the remembered they had it, they tried it again and realized it was delicious. That’s where Worcestershire sauce comes from. Now it’s a common ingredient in many dishes you find in restaurants and at home.