Food The Let's Go Club

This is the Let's Go Club, but mini!

Expect making, exploring,

super-sizing, dancing,

fact-finding and laughing,

so get ready for more fun from the Let's Go Club.

Today we're finding out all about food.

Crunchy apples and peas that are mushy.

Crusty bread that's all warm and fluffy.

Veggies and puddings and pizza slices.

Things you can cook in all shapes and sizes.

Stinky cheese that smells like feet.

So many foods we all like to eat.

Let's get to those facts.

First up, chocolate was once used as money.

Delicious and very handy.

OK, well, maybe not the bar of chocolaty treat

that you and I know.

A long time ago, cacao beans, that chocolate is made from,

were liked so much that they were used to buy things.

One of these brown beans could get you a cooked doughy treat

and 100 of them might have bought you a whole turkey!

Now, what would you choose?

Turkey or cocoa? Hmm!

Next, bananas grow upside down.

The wrong way round.

They grow from the flowers on a plant.

Each bunch that pops out from a flower is called a hand

and the single bananas are known as fingers.

The flowers are so heavy that they bend over the stalks of the plant,

but bananas love the heat and light of the sun

so, as the hands of the fruit grow,

they turn their little fingers around to reach up to the sky

and when the bananas get bigger and bendier,

it makes them look like they're upside down.

Straight up. Sort of.

Next, mushrooms can grow in the dark.

Let's shed some light on this.

There are certain kinds of mushrooms that give off a pale green light

in the forest at night.

They do this to get the attention of insects

who come to investigate the strange glow.

Once the insects have seen the light, they scuttle off again

carrying seeds from the mushroom to other parts of the forest

and this helps the mushrooms to survive and keep on growing.

If you want to grow, then it helps to glow.

And finally, the outside of a jellybean is made from insect goo.

Disgusting but true!

A tiny red insect called a lac bug makes a sticky liquid called

shellac that clings to the bark of trees.

When the shellac has dried out, it turns hard and shiny

and can be collected up.

Then it's ready to use as a coat for sweet treats like jellybeans.

That's what makes the outside so smooth.

From goo to inside you. Fact!

You can be part of the Let's Go Club too.

Grab a grown-up and head to the CBeebies website.

Remember, we're the club that never closes!