Foods Invented By Accident

Accidental Eats

CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES
When the Toll House Inn's Ruth Wakefield ran out of baking chocolate one day in 1930, she smashed up a bar of semi-sweet chocolate and added the pieces to her dough. Upon their removal from the oven, the cookies weren't uniformly infused with melted chocolate, but rather studded with little chunks throughout. The signature sweet put her Whitman, Massachusetts inn on the culinary map.

Browse Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipes

Accidental Eats

WHEATIES
In the early 1920s, a Minnesota health clinician spilled some of the hot bran gruel he was prepping for his patients onto a hot stove top. It sizzled into tasty flakes, and the creation was brought to the attention of George Cormack, the head miller at the Washburn Crosby Company. He perfected the process, and Washburn's Gold Medal Whole Wheat Flakes were brought to market in 1924. The name was shortened to "Wheaties" as the result of an employee contest, and eventually the company became known as General Mills.

Cereal ID Quiz

Accidental Eats

POTATO CHIPS
Back in 1853, a customer at Saratoga Springs' Moon's Lake House had a chip on his shoulder. He sent batch after batch of fried potatoes back, claiming they weren't up to his crunch standards. Fed-up chef George Crum sliced the final batch as thinly as possible, sizzled them in hot grease and laid on a healthy measure of salt. The then much more chipper customer proclaimed these crispy 'taters a hit, and they quickly became a hit all throughout the region.

Potato Chip Taste Test
Flavored Potato Chip Taste Test

Accidental Eats

POPSICLES
One chilly night in 1905, eleven-year-old Frank Epperson left his soda making equipment outside on his San Francisco porch. The next day, he found that stick with which he'd been stirring flavored powder into water had frozen upright in the mixture. In 1924, he applied for a patent for this "Epsicle," which he then redubbed "Popsicle," supposedly at the urging of his children.

Frozen Treats ID Quiz

Accidental Eats

CORN FLAKES
Strict Seventh Day Adventists John Harvey and Will Keith Kellogg weren't about to waste the stale, boiled wheat Will had left sitting out at their Battle Creek Sanitarium. They attempted to make long sheets of dough, but the process resulted in flakes, which they then toasted. Patients loved the new dish, and after experimenting with various grains, including corn, the brothers sought a patent for this Granose. The Kellogg's company was formed in 1906, but John refused to take part, as he felt the addition of sugar to the corn flakes decreased their health benefit.

Cereal ID Quiz

Accidental Eats

BEER
About 10,000 years ago, Mesopotamians abandoned their nomadic ways and became the world's first agrarian society. Stored grains for bread became wet, and began to naturally ferment. Some hardy soul dared to drink the frothing mess, thus knocking back the world's very first brewski.

Beer Trivia Quiz

Accidental Eats

SOURDOUGH
The same fermentation that gives beer its bubbles is also what gives sourdough bread its distinctive tang and small holes. What likely happened is that Egyptian bakers' accidentally dampened grain was left to sit at room temperature, and wild yeast spores from the nearby beer brewing made their way into the mix. The spores ate the grans' natural sugars, resulting in a sour flavor and carbon dioxide that caused the bread to rise higher than their usual flat breads.

Bake Great Bread

Accidental Eats

COFFEE
The truth of this one is a bit murky, but the Legend of Kaldi maintains that an Abyssian or Ethopian goat herder noticed that his flock was acting especially frisky after chowing down on some bright red berries. After sampling some for himself and verifying the mood shift, he brought the berries to a local imam who studied them, eventually roasting and boiling a batch in water, thus brewing up the original cup o' joe.

Make Perfect Coffee

Accidental Eats

SACCHARIN
In 1879, a Johns Hopkins University researcher named Constantine Fahlberg spilled a chemical on his hands, but neglected to wash it off before sitting down to lunch. The chemical transferred an incredibly sweet taste to the bread he was eating, and in 1884, he obtained a patent for saccharin.

The Taste of Sweet

Accidental Eats

RAISINS
As early as 1490 B.C., Egyptian writings mentioned raisins being used as food, medicine, sporting contest awards, temple decor and tax payment. Evidence suggests that unharvested grapes were found dried on the vine, and determined to be sweet and delicious.

Not everyone loves raisins...

Accidental Eats