Interesting Facts

According to figures released by the Office for National Statistics, house prices in the UK have risen 47 thousand percent since the Queen was born. (The average house price has risen from just over £600 when she was born in 1926 to £291,000 today. To put that into perspective,  a pint of milk cost the equivalent of 1.3p in 1926 and is only 42p today, a rise of 3,131%. However, if the price of milk had risen in line with property prices it would cost £612.57 a pint. 47,000% ! If only my income had increased that much.)

In new legislation, restaurants and takeaways across Europe will be required by law to tell customers if their food contains ingredients known to trigger allergies. (The new rules also apply to meals served in bakeries, cafes, care homes and any packaged produce sold by supermarkets. Remember the nuts? Well it's not just nuts:- The list of ingredients includes:- celery - including any found in stock cubes and soup cereals containing gluten - including spelt, wheat, rye, barley crustaceans - e.g. crabs, lobster, prawns and shrimp paste eggs - including food glazed with egg fish lupin - can be found in some types of bread, pastries, pasta milk molluscs - mussels, land snails, squid, also found in oyster sauce mustard nuts - for example almonds, hazelnuts, walnuts, macadamia peanuts - also found in groundnut oil sesame seeds - found in some bread, houmous, tahini soya - found in beancurd, edamame beans, tofu sulphur dioxide - used as a preservative in drie...

The word milkshake was first used, in print, in 1885, but milkshakes were originally sold in bars as a cure for hangovers. It was like eggnog, made with eggs, cream, sugar and whisky. (The milkshake as we know it today didn't appear until 1922, at the Chicago Walgreen’s pharmacy. they whisky had gone and two scoops of vanilla ice cream were added to “malted milk”: a mixture of milk, chocolate, and malt powder designed for children and invalids.  By the 1930s, milkshakes were a popular drink at malt shops in the US, which were the "typical soda fountain of the period. In the UK they were known as milk bars, and they were encouraged by the Temperance Society, as a morally acceptable alternative to the pub, which is ironic when you realise how the milkshake actually started.)

12th September Chocolate Milk Shake Day.

A record-breaking stollen that weighed in at over 4,000 kilograms was created to celebrate the opening of Dresden's Christmas market. (If you want to make your own you will need approximately:-Stollen (rounded figures): 1,500 kilos flour 990 kilos seedless raisins (sultanas) 790 kilos butter 455 kilos sugar 200 kilos candied lemon peel 150 kilos almonds (sweet) 110 kilos icing sugar 95 kilos yeast 55 kilos almonds (bitter) 45 kilos lemon peels 44 kilos Jamaica rum 44 kilos powdered milk 30 kilos salt 5 kilos spices) Source

According to research carried out by WRAP (the UK's Waste and Resources Action Programme ) , the average UK household throws away enough food to make 6 meals every week (The waste costs almost £60 a month per family, but, according to farming UK if you add it all together it's worth a whopping £12.5 billion a year.  The top three foods that we are throwing away uneaten are those every day essentials: bread, potatoes and milk. The equivalent of 24 million slices of bread, 5.8 million potatoes and 5.9 million glasses of milk are wasted daily.) Source

According to the 2012 league table of food and drink costs, Britain pays more for food and alcohol than most of Europe. ( The staples, milk, cheese and eggs are 7% more expensive and across all food and non-alcoholic drinks, the UK pays 4% above the EU27. In the same study, Norway came out as the most expensive for food and drink and Macedonia the cheapest. All this came as no surprise to me; doing a food shop in the UK is always more expensive than Germany, but the biggest surprise is alcohol in the UK is around 43% above the European Union average, in France alcohol costs are 12% below the average and Germany 18%  lower. However, this is not why I moved to Germany.)

Denmark has introduced what is believed to be the world's first fat tax: (Now this isn't a tax on fat people, it's a surcharge placed on foods that are high in saturated fat. Foods that contain saturated fat include, butter, milk, cheese, pizza, meat, oil and processed foods, which are all subject to the tax if they contain more than 2.3% saturated fat. So, not so much a stealth tax, as a health tax.)

According to research from Brown University, Rhode Island, eating dairy food, like cheese and butter doesn't increase your risk of a heart attack. (Contrary to earlier beliefs that saturated fat might lead to a heart attack, researchers found that nutrients in dairy products actually counteract the harmful effects. I knew it! Now where's my Lurpack and block of cheddar?) Source

In the UK the first sell-by dates went onto milk and cream products in the 1950s. (Marks and Spencer started using them to give people confidence in the products in their chilled cabinets. People were used to finding milk and cream on their doorstep every morning, because it was traditionally delivered by the milkman.) Source: The BBC

Dairy farmers in the UK lose money on every pint they produce. (It costs the farmer around 61p to produce four pints, they only get paid around 58p by the processor, so the farmer loses 3p. The processor is paid £1.07 by the supermarkets who then sell it to customers for £1.45. Source: DairyCo )

98% of households in the UK buy milk. (On average us Brits consume over two-and-a-half pints a week,each. We like a bit of the white stuff.)

People in the UK prefer to drink their tea at a temperature of 56-60°C. (It's probably why we add cold milk to it and it is lucky, as adding cold milk makes it cool enough to reduce the risk of developing cancer of the oesophagus. According to research at the University of Tehran, drinking hot tea (65-69°C) is associated with twice the risk of developing oesophageal cancer, and drinking very hot tea (70°C or more) is associated with an eight-fold increased risk. I'm glad I drink my tea with milk.)

Beer has fewer calories than a similar measure of wine, milk or fruit juice. (There you go. The diet is back on track.)

You can make edible cheese from the milk of 24 different mammals. (Well I know of 3; cows, goats and sheep. But I really don't want to think about the others. Eeeew!)