Over the years, sassafras has been used for medicinal purposes, spices, and to flavor root beer. But in 1976, the FDA ruled that due to its high level of safrole, the plant could no longer be sold in tea. Sassafras is native from the region spreading from southwest Maine to New York state. It can now also be found in the Southeast and as far west as Missouri.

Native Americans introduced the Jerusalem artichoke to Europeans in 1605. The vegetable was called sunroot when it was presented to French explorer Samuel de Champlain, and the taste reminded him of artichokes. When it was brought to Italy, the vegetable was called girasole (Italian for sunflower), and a mispronunciation led to “Jerusalem.”

Carrots were originally white, before selective breeding by the Dutch helped turn them orange. Those early white carrots were first cultivated in the region that makes up modern-day Afghanistan and Iran. Scientists believe that once farmers figured out how to grow carrots in different colors, they did it to help differentiate between farmed carrots and wild carrots.

The former capital of Kazakhstan until 1998 was “Almaty,” which loosely translates to “full of apples” — a nod to the fact that apples were first cultivated in the mountains of Kazakhstan. By 1500, apples had been carried throughout Europe, and they made their way to the Western Hemisphere in the early 19th century.

Genes in South American sweet potatoes show that they originally came from Asia before Christopher Columbus ever reached the New World. Scientists believe this proves that Polynesians traded with South Americans long before Europeans discovered the continents in the Western Hemisphere.

The origins of cocoa can be traced back to Central and South America about 3,900 years ago. The Aztec emperor Montezuma was said to drink 50 glasses of hot cocoa a day for its stimulating and aphrodisiac qualities. But today, the three largest cocoa producers are Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana, and Nigeria, and Africa exports over two-thirds of global cocoa. The largest importing countries are the Netherlands, Germany, and the United States.

Pumpkins are believed to have originated in Central America around 7,500 years ago, and the oldest pumpkin seeds ever were discovered by archaeologists in the Oaxaca Highlands of Mexico. The first pumpkins were smaller and harder than the orange ones we grow now. They are believed to have been among the first crops grown for human consumption in North America.

While many people now associate the orange with the state of Florida, the fruit was first cultivated in Asia. The fruit came before the color, as the word “orange” was invented to describe the color of the fruit that was brought west to Spain by Italian and Portuguese traders. The name “mandarin orange” describes its origins in China.

The U.S. now produces over $60 billion worth of soybeans annually, but the crop didn’t come to the U.S. until 1764, when they were known as “Chinese vetches.” Samuel Bowen of the East India Company brought soybeans to America from China, via London, and planted what is thought to be the first stateside crop in Georgia. Botanists believe soybeans were first developed in China as early as 7000 BCE.

Wisconsin’s state fruit, the cranberry, did actually originate in the state of Wisconsin. Wyoming’s state fruit, the banana, originated in Africa; California’s avocado first sprouted in South America; and Georgia’s peach is native to Asia. Cranberries were first cultivated in Wisconsin in the 1830s, and half the world’s cranberry supply comes from the Badger State.

Native Americans prized three crops native to North America that were called the “three sisters” — maize, beans, and squash. The winter squash featured long, broad-leafed vines that helped beans and maize grow. The squash would trap moisture for the other crops, and suppress weeds.

Only three major spices are native to the Western Hemisphere: vanilla, capsicum peppers, and allspice. Christopher Columbus introduced allspice to Europe after returning from his explorations of the New World. When he found allspice in the Caribbean, he mistakenly thought it was pepper, which led to its Spanish name, “pimienta.”

There is a popular legend about an Ethiopian goat herder named Kaldi who noticed that when his herd would eat a certain plant, they couldn't sleep at night. Whether that’s exactly true or not, historians know that the earliest coffee traders in the Arabian peninsula went into the Ethiopian forests to harvest the crop that is now a worldwide staple.

It’s impossible to imagine Italian cuisine without the tomato, but modern Italian cuisine would be quite different without a food that was first found naturally in South America. Documents from the 1800s indicate tomatoes were cultivated in Peru before being transported to Europe. The crop’s early names were “mala peruviana” and “pomi del Peru,” referencing its origin.

The vanilla orchid — from which the spice is extracted — originally only grew naturally in what is now Mexico and Guatemala. The vanilla orchid is a vine-like plant that grows vertically on trees. Vanilla only grows 10 to 20 degrees on either side of the equator, and most vanilla sold commercially now comes from Madagascar and the island of Réunion.

Wheat covers more area of the Earth than any other crop. It’s versatile and resilient, and it grows in dry and cold climates, where other widely consumed crops such as rice and corn cannot grow. Wheat was first cultivated in Mesopotamia, the “cradle of civilization” in what is now Iraq, near the Tigris and Euphrates rivers.

Sugarcane is the most harvested crop on Earth by weight. The tropical grass is native to Asia, and the process of extracting sugar from it was developed in India in about 400 BCE. Over 60% of the world’s sugar now comes from sugarcane, and it is cultivated in tropical and subtropical regions throughout the world.

Australia’s geographical isolation, as well as its harsh climate and susceptibility to drought, explains the continent’s distinct lack of native crops. Australia has 35,000 native plants, but only about 10% of those have been used for food by Indigenous peoples. The most well-known native crop from Australia is the Macadamia nut.

Incas first cultivated potatoes in what is now Peru about 8,000 years ago. Cutting plots into the steep Andes mountains helped protect the potatoes from erosion and conserve water. Potatoes are currently the most cultivated crop in the world, outside of grains. Spanish conquistadors first brought the potato to Europe in the 1500s.

It takes about 250 gallons of water to make one pound of rice, but the crop is responsible for more than one-fifth of the calories consumed by people on Earth. Many scholars believe that rice was first domesticated in China's Yangtze River area.