How Sweet Is It? Trivia Quiz

Butter has almost no sugar (less than 0.1 gram per 100 grams) because of how it is made. Butter starts out as heavy cream, which contains fat droplets mixed with liquid milk that holds a natural sugar called lactose. When cream is shaken really fast (or churned), the fat droplets clump together into solid yellow butter and squeeze out the liquid, which becomes buttermilk.

Since almost all of the milk's natural sugars stay behind in that poured-off buttermilk (which is delicious), the finished butter ends up being nearly pure fat with practically zero sugar left inside.

Dill pickles have very little sugar with about 1.1 grams per 100 grams. They are made by soaking fresh cucumbers in a salty, sour liquid rather than a sweet one. Cucumbers naturally start out low in sugar to begin with and when they are transformed into dill pickles, they are placed in a jar filled with water, salt, vinegar, garlic, and dill weed herbs.

The vinegar and salt soak into the cucumber to give it that bright, tangy crunch without adding sweet syrups or sugars. Unlike sweet pickles or bread-and-butter pickles (which have lots of added sugar stirred into the liquid), classic dill pickles keep things savory and sour, leaving them with almost no sugar at all. Go ahead and put them on a burger!

Plain Greek yogurt has a low sugar content of about 3.6 grams per 100 grams. Like all dairy products, yogurt starts with milk, which contains a natural sugar called lactose. Healthy bacteria are added to warm milk to ferment it, turning some of that lactose into tangy lactic acid (which gives it that unique taste) and making the milk thick.

To turn regular yogurt into Greek yogurt, the liquid portion (called whey) is strained out through fine cloth or filters. Because a lot of the milk's natural lactose sugar stays dissolved in that liquid whey, straining it away leaves behind a super thick, creamy yogurt with much less sugar than regular plain yogurt, and no added sweeteners.

Raw carrots have about 4.7 grams of sugar per 100 grams. Even though carrots are crunchy vegetables that grow underground, have you noticed that they naturally taste a little sweet? As carrot plants grow in the garden, their leafy green tops catch sunlight and use it to make natural plant sugars through photosynthesis.

The plant then sends those sugars down into its thick taproot to store as food and energy. That stored energy gives fresh, raw carrots their bright orange color and signature sweet, earthy crunch.

Cured bacon contains about 7.0 grams of sugar per 100 grams. Raw pork belly starts with virtually zero sugar and then is seasoned and preserved during the curing process. However, to cure the meat so it stays fresh longer and develops a rich, savory taste, butchers coat it with a brine mixture containing salt, spices, and sugar (often brown sugar, maple syrup, or honey).

During the curing stage, the meat absorbs some of that sugar, which helps balance out the heavy saltiness and creates that classic sweet-and-savory flavor when the bacon is cooked and crisped up in a skillet. I can almost smell it cooking now!

Fresh red apples contain about 10.4 grams of sugar per 100 grams. Apples get their crisp, juicy sweetness naturally as they grow on apple trees. Throughout the spring and summer, the tree's green leaves catch sunlight and soak up water to make natural sugars through photosynthesis - mostly fructose and glucose.

As the apples grow and ripen on the branches during late summer and fall, the tree pumps these natural sugars straight into the fruit. That stored fruit sugar, along with natural fruit acids, gives a fresh red apple its delicious and sweet crunch when you bite into it.

Yellow bananas contain about 12.2 grams of sugar per 100 grams. Bananas are a great example of science in action right on your kitchen counter. When bananas are picked off the tree, they are green, firm, and filled mostly with starch, which doesn't taste sweet at all.

But as a green banana sits and ripens, it produces a natural gas called ethylene that triggers the fruit to break down those tough starches into simple, sweet sugars like fructose and glucose. As the peel turns from green to yellow (and eventually develops brown spots), the banana gets softer, smells sweeter, and packs more natural fruit sugar into every bite.

Milk chocolate bars contain about 51.5 grams of sugar per 100 grams, meaning over half of a chocolate bar is pure sugar. While chocolate starts from cocoa beans that grow inside pods on tropical trees, raw cocoa beans are actually very bitter on their own.

To turn bitter cocoa into smooth milk chocolate, candy makers roast and ground the beans into cocoa liquor, then blend it with cocoa butter, milk powder, and a massive amount of fine granulated sugar. All that added sugar cuts the natural bitterness of the cocoa, giving milk chocolate its sweet, creamy taste that melts in your mouth.

Dried dates contain about 63.4 grams of sugar per 100 grams. Dates are naturally sweet fruits that grow in big clusters on tall date palm trees in warm, sunny climates. When fresh dates are picked and dried out, almost all of their water content evaporates into the air.

With the water gone, all the natural fruit sugars (like fructose and glucose) become super concentrated inside the remaining fruit. That water loss shrinks the date and transforms it into a dense, chewy treat with a rich, caramel-like sweetness.

Cotton candy is a fun science experiment in melted sugar. Candy makers pour colored granulated sugar into a spinning central head that heats up to around 300°F (150°C), melting the hard sugar crystals into a hot liquid syrup. As the machine spins at high speeds, the liquid sugar is forced out through tiny holes in the sides of the bowl.

The moment the microscopic streams of liquid sugar hit the cooler room air outside the bowl, they solidify into thin and glass-like threads. Those fine threads gather inside the drum, where they are wrapped around a paper cone into a giant, fluffy cloud that melts the second it touches your tongue.