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Plants as Key Ingredient

For each selected food, identify the culinary plant that is normally its key ingredient.
Includes fruits, veggies, tubers, grains, and legumes
Key ingredient is usually but not always the main ingredient
Quiz by ThirdParty
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Last updated: June 12, 2015
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First submittedOctober 29, 2012
Times taken43,213
Average score56.5%
Rating4.38
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Food
Key Ingredient
Pickles (U.S.)
Cucumber
Sauerkraut
Cabbage
Raisins
Grapes
Borscht
Beetroot
Gazpacho
Tomato
Hummus
Chickpeas
Guacamole
Avocado
Baba Ghanoush
Eggplant
Food
Key Ingredient
Hash Browns
Potato
Polenta
Maize
Tofu
Soybeans
Paella
Rice
Dal
Lentils
Poi
Taro
Tahini
Sesame Seeds
Hot Sauce
Chile Peppers
Food
Key Ingredient
Macaroni
Durum Wheat
Pumpernickel
Rye
Root Beer
Sassafras
Grenadine
Pomegranate
Marzipan
Almonds
Tapioca
Cassava
Chocolate
Cocoa Beans
55 Comments
+10
Level 24
Oct 27, 2012
Pretty sure dal can be made from split peas and many other beans, not just lentil.
+2
Level 77
Oct 27, 2012
I thought rootbeer was sarsaparilla.
+1
Level 54
Oct 27, 2012
me too.
+2
Level 44
Oct 28, 2012
I suppose sarsaparilla is technically a type of root beer ... okay, I've added it as an alternate answer.
+3
Level 75
Aug 20, 2015
There is some conflicting information about this on the 'net, but it appears that sarsaparilla is made from a tropical vine of the Smilax genus. It is sometimes added to root beer and may have been the original "root beer" (with a weaker flavor), but it has no relation to the sassafras tree which is the origin of the root beer flavoring we know today.
+1
Level 2
Nov 1, 2012
This is a hard quiz!
+1
Level 62
Feb 25, 2025
Do you still find this a hard quiz?
+5
Level 85
May 8, 2014
I once looked at the ingredients on tapioca, and it just said, "Tapioca". So I called the number on the box for customer service, and they just said, "Tapioca". I made the guy look it up, it took him forever, but he finally told me this long process for converting cassava roots. So I actually knew the answer.
+5
Level 37
Jul 30, 2014
I'm sure he complained to all his friends that night at the bar about this crazy stubborn guy who didn't know how to google something.
+5
Level 95
Jun 16, 2015
You make the assumption that Packers' story happened when Google existed. Could've been back in the 80s for all you know.
+2
Level 67
Aug 20, 2015
^PWND
+2
Level 74
Jul 21, 2017
In those days they still had encyclopedias. What I want to know is, did he call customer service for every random question he had about every product, or was this just the one day where he decided to go all in on a whim?
+1
Level 66
Sep 24, 2018
It would make a good story at least.
+1
Level 51
Jun 7, 2021
"i made him look it up"
+1
Level 69
Aug 21, 2015
great name btw
+5
Level 74
Jan 16, 2015
Chile peppers?
+4
Level 69
Feb 22, 2017
all peppers come from Chile
+1
Level 81
Feb 24, 2018
I hope this guy is trolling.
+1
Level 81
Oct 12, 2019
the answer is still misspelled as Chile
+1
Level 83
Jan 6, 2021
Agreed. US chili or UK chilli.
+2
Level 24
Aug 20, 2015
If I am not mistaken, Dal is often made of pigeon pea.
+4
Level 75
Aug 20, 2015
Pigeon pee? Ewwww! ;-)
+1
Level 51
Jun 7, 2021
do birds even pee
+1
Level 74
Aug 26, 2023
yes they do
+1
Level 47
Apr 13, 2025
Sort of they produce urea which is the white part of the poo.
+1
Level 81
Aug 20, 2015
Soylent Green is people!
+1
Level 75
Aug 20, 2015
That would have been a great clue.
+1
Level 86
May 25, 2016
...but not a plant, alas!
+1
Level 87
May 5, 2021
Hey, I know some people who are true vegetables.
+1
Level 86
Mar 10, 2017
Ahhh, you ruined it!!! :-P
+2
Level 59
Aug 20, 2015
I always thought grenadine was cherry-flavored...
+1
Level 76
Dec 2, 2015
Didn't *know* the answer, but "pomegranate" and "grenadine" sorta look/sound alike. Enough at least to make it a valid guess. Lo' and behold!
+1
Level 67
Aug 20, 2015
22/23. Couldn't guess beyond "sugar" for grenadine.
+1
Level 55
Aug 22, 2015
You couldn't just accept "beans" for tohu? It took me a while to remember that tofu is also called beancurd.
+1
Level 55
Aug 22, 2015
Question: Poi. Answer: T___ Never heard of either of them.
+1
Level 86
Mar 10, 2017
Poi...ugh. Tried it at a luau in Hawai'i. Blechhhtt! I guess if brown slime is your thing, it's great.
+4
Level 67
Aug 24, 2015
Dal can be made from lentils, peas, or certain beans. I tried bean and it didn't accept it.
+1
Level 63
Nov 24, 2015
what kind of jerk has maize and doesn't accept "corn"
+5
Level ∞
Nov 24, 2015
Corn would have worked.
+1
Level 16
Dec 7, 2015
Please add "Semolina" for Macaroni! :)
+2
Level 86
May 25, 2016
Semolina is an intermediate product - not the plant from which it originates.
+4
Level 66
Feb 22, 2017
ahhh, a lovely afternoon stroll through the Semolina fields...
+4
Level 86
Mar 10, 2017
What's a "Chile Pepper"?
+1
Level 55
Apr 27, 2017
1:21 left. Too easy.
+1
Level 74
Jul 21, 2017
Very lucky guess on cassava. I knew tapioca was a starch of some sort, but I had no idea what plant it came from.
+1
Level 59
Dec 6, 2017
This is a quizz after my heart. I love plants
+1
Level 62
Dec 12, 2017
Commercial root beer no longer contains sassafras, and hasn't for years after it was discovered to be toxic and carcinogenic.
+1
Level 45
Feb 24, 2018
I kept typing sarsaparilla, and figured I misspelled it.
+1
Level 49
Jul 22, 2018
Completed but did it untamed. Learnt a lot tho
+1
Level 87
Oct 12, 2019
"Plants as *Main* Ingredient", "identify the . . . *key* ingredient", "*Key* ingredient is usually but not always the *main* ingredient". Are you trying to make my head explode?
+1
Level ∞
Oct 12, 2019
Changed the title from "Main" to "Key".
+1
Level 87
Mar 13, 2021
+1
Level 71
May 10, 2023
Got all of them except poi!

By the way thanks for accepting "yuca" for the cassava.

+1
Level 71
Oct 15, 2024
I would enjoy a part 2
+1
Level 63
Nov 21, 2024
yum
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