Tough Questions about Food

The questions below were taken from the “Quiz for Bright People,” which I received in an email from a friend and then discovered has been published on many, many, many sites. I was too lazy to count them, but if you Google the title of the quiz, you’ll find many, many sites where you can locate the entire nine-question version. If the originator identifies himself/herself, I’ll be happy to give him/her credit for an entertaining challenge.

My suggestion is that you find a friend—or several friends—to work on these questions with you.  After the first one on the entire quiz stumped me and then my husband answered it correctly in about 3 seconds, I gave up and looked at the answers.  Then, I selected the four that were about food, and put them on the site to encourage humility in my readers.  So, without further ado, here are the food-related items AND their answers.  You’ll probably need both.

QUESTIONS:

1. Of all vegetables, only two can live to produce on their own for several growing seasons. All other vegetables must be replanted every year. What are the only two perennial vegetables? 

2. What fruit has its seeds on the outside?

3. Name the only vegetable or fruit that is never sold frozen, canned, processed, cooked, or in any other form except fresh. 

4. In many liquor stores, you can buy pear brandy, with a real pear inside the bottle. The pear is whole and ripe, and the bottle is genuine; it hasn't been cut in any way. How did the pear get inside the bottle? 

ANSWERS:

1.  Only two vegetables that can live to produce on their own for several growing seasons: Asparagus and rhubarb. 

2. The fruit with its seeds on the outside: strawberry.

3. The only vegetable or fruit never sold frozen, canned, processed, cooked, or in any other form but fresh: lettuce. 

4. It grew inside the bottle. The bottles are placed over pear buds when they are small, and are wired in place on the tree. The bottle is left in place for the entire growing season. When the pears are ripe, they are snipped off at the stems.