Guess these common foods from their close-ups
How many can you guess?
You probably know what a lot of popular fruit, vegetables and produce looks like – you buy and eat it every day. But what if we were to zoom in and change the perspective? Take our quiz and find out how many of these foods you can guess from their close-ups, plus marvel at the incredible macro photography too.
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Made from flour and egg, this carby food is much-loved across the world and can take many shapes and forms.
Pasta
It is, of course, pasta. This pasta shape – penne – is one of the most commonly available and is a pantry staple in most households. You might be surprised to hear that there are more than 350 different pasta shapes and each is meant to be paired with a specific sauce.
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A type of brassica, this vegetable is a winter staple and commonly used in soups, stews and sautéed as a side.
Savoy cabbage
In season throughout winter, Savoy cabbage can be used in a variety of filling and warming dishes. Quite different in appearance and texture to white or red cabbages, Savoy cabbage has a much more mellow flavor too. As its name suggests, it's thought to have originated from the Savoy region in France.
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A root vegetable with a very distinctive color, it's the favorite food of many cartoon rabbits.
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Not only is this vegetable synonymous with fall, but it's also used as decoration to celebrate a spooky holiday.
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Pumpkin
A type of a winter squash, pumpkin is much-loved both for its mellow, sweet flavor and its excellent use as a jack-o'-lantern for Halloween. Its soft flesh is delicious when mashed in sweet and savory dishes, while roasting brings out a slightly nutty flavor. The largest pumpkin ever recorded in the US was grown by Steve Geddes in New Hampshire in 2018. It weighed an astonishing 1,146kg (2,528lbs).
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A popular summer vegetable often used in salads, this is actually the fruit of a creeping vine.
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Cucumber
Cucumbers are loved around the world and can be eaten fresh or pickled using vinegar or brine. You might have heard that cucumbers consist mostly of water and it's true. Various sources claim that as much as 95% of a cucumber can be water, but an exact figure is unknown.
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This tropical fruit is indigenous to South America and is a very controversial pizza topping.
Pineapple
Sweet and slightly sharp, pineapple is a delicious fruit used in many desserts and its juice is popular too. Back in the 17th century, when Europeans first discovered pineapple, it became a symbol of status and luxury. London's high society was so obsessed with pineapple that architect Sir Christopher Wren wanted to top the central dome of St Paul's Cathedral with a huge pineapple statue. Instead, two small gilded pineapples still sit atop the two north towers of the famous cathedral.
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Botanically this is classed as a type of a berry, but this sweet and sugary fruit doesn't look like a berry at all.
Melon
This particular melon is a cantaloupe – one of the most widely available melons in the world. There are countless melon varieties, from popular watermelon and honeydew to the incredibly expensive densuke watermelon. The melon with a black rind is grown in Japan and can cost as much as $5,800 (£4,650).
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A juicy stone fruit, it's the official fruit of a southern state in the US.
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Peach
Peaches herald warmer weather and are loved for their sweet, sugary flavor. They're also a key ingredient in a tasty peach cobbler. The world's largest peach cobbler is made at the Georgia Peach Festival in Fort Valley every year. The gigantic dessert measures 11 x 5 feet (3.3x1.5m) and is about eight inches (20cm) deep. It's also free to taste.
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These are the seeds of a versatile vegetable that is available in different shapes, sizes and colors. It can sometimes be hot but this is the inside of a sweet variety.
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Yellow pepper
Also known as bell peppers, capsicums or sweet peppers, these are non-hot members of the pepper family. They're available in a variety of colors that also affect their flavor. Green peppers are unripe red peppers and are more acidic, while red peppers have subtle sweet notes. Yellow and orange peppers are separate varieties rather than stages of ripeness and were specially bred to be sweet and crispy.
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Although versions of this popular breakfast food existed as early as the 19th century, it only properly came into the mainstream in 1925.
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Toasted bread
What's better than a slice of toast in the morning? Thanks to Alan MacMasters who invented the first electric toaster in Edinburgh in 1893 and Charles Strite, who patented the first automatic pop-up toaster in 1921, toasted bread is so easily made today.
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The plant that produces this sugary fruit has been cultivated since ancient times and its history can be traced further back than the domestication of wheat and barley.
Fig
Sweet figs have enjoyed huge popularity since ancient Greece and today are widely consumed around the world. Figs can be eaten raw, cooked, dried or preserved as jelly or chutney. Both the plant and fruit have great significance in religion, mythology, art and literature.
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This is a macro image of the skin of a summer fruit often used to make jams and jellies, as well as in baking.
Raspberry
One of summer's most popular berries, raspberries are part of the rose family. Raspberry plants usually produce red berries but yellow, blue, black and purple varieties also exist. The leaves of the plant are also used in tea as a remedy in herbal medicine.
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A purple-red variety of a popular vegetable, it's usually cooked but can be eaten raw or used to make pickles and chutneys.
Red onion
These underground bulbs are available in a variety of colors and sizes, and have very different textures and flavors. Red onions, of course, have a very distinct color. But they're also loved for their subtle, slightly sweet flavor, perfect for salads and salsas.
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An ingredient often used in baking, this food is made from the flesh of a tropical fruit that's also used for its water, milk and oil.
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Desiccated coconut
Made from coconut meat that's shredded and dried, desiccated coconut is an excellent ingredient and is also more affordable and readily available than fresh coconut. Its subtle sweetness and nutty flavor are a great addition to cakes, pastries and a variety of desserts.
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A real love-it-or-hate-it ingredient, this food not only has a very distinct appearance but can also have a very pungent smell.
Blue cheese
The term blue cheese encompasses a wide variety of cheeses, running from creamy to crumbly, and can be made using milk from cows, goats and sheep. Popular blue cheeses include Gorgonzola from Italy, Stilton from England and Roquefort from France.
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An ingredient with a very specific flavor and aroma, it's among the most expensive foods in the world.
Black truffle
One of the world's most luxurious ingredients, there are hundreds of species of truffles, but only a few are edible. The three most popular include winter truffle, summer truffle and Burgundy truffle. The prized ingredient grows underground so truffle hogs (and dogs) are used to locate and extract them. The pigs are trained to hunt truffles by walking on a leash and thanks to their great sense of smell, they can identify truffles from as deep as three feet (0.9m) underground.
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This fruit's popularity in the West has skyrocketed in the recent years but in South and Southeast Asia, it's been widely used for centuries.
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Jackfruit
Now a popular meat substitute in vegetarian and vegan dishes in the Western world, it’s the official fruit of Kerala and Tamil Nadu. It is also the national fruit of Bangladesh and Sri Lanka. In Asia, there are many jackfruit festivals and a strong tradition of giving the fruit and sweet preparations made from the fruit as gifts.
Read more about jackfruit and how to cook with it
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This ruby red fruit is very common in Middle Eastern cooking and is known for its high vitamin C content.
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Pomegranate
Native to the region of modern-day Iran and northern India, pomegranate has always been prized for its intense flavor. One cup of pomegranate seeds (arils) contain around a third of your daily recommended vitamin C intake. But there's also a lot of sugar – 24g (0.8oz) per cup – which is responsible for the sweet taste.
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This vegetable is actually related to the thistle and both its leaves and the bottom part, called the heart, are edible.
Artichoke
Artichokes can seem like an intimidating vegetable to cook with but persevere and you'll be able to use it in a variety of dishes. They're also often referred to as globe artichokes to make a distinction from the Jerusalem artichoke, which is no artichoke at all but rather a species of sunflower also known as sunchoke.
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Reminiscent of tiny buds, this is part of a green vegetable that belongs to the cabbage family. It's often cited among the healthiest vegetables in the world.
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Broccoli
Broccoli has been grown in Italy since the times of the Roman Empire and wasn't introduced to the rest of the continent until the 16th century. But today the US is the largest producer of the green florets with almost all broccoli sold in the US, grown in California. A versatile vegetable, broccoli is especially high in fiber and also has more protein than most vegetables.
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