When you’re a curious and adventurous kid, you troll your house wondering if there are hidden sources of alcohol anywhere.
You (and we!) would have been surprised to learn that you could have just dug into your fridge or pantry to give drinking a try.
First up? Bread.
It probably doesn’t surprise you that bread is alcoholic, since it contains almost the exact same ingredients as beer. You can smell alcohol as the bread rises (ferments), but unlike in the beer making process, most of the alcohol evaporates as the bread heats in the oven.
That said, some alcohol does remain in the bread, with some loaves containing as much as 1.9% alcohol by volume (ABV).
The longer it ferments the higher the alcohol content, but the amounts in most cases are enough for bread to be considered an alcoholic product by the EU.
Next, orange juice and fruit.
Because it’s high in sugar, orange and other juices are relatively alcoholic, even if they’re not labeled.
Orange juice can contain up to 0.5% ABV, just below the threshold to be labeled alcoholic, but a 2016 study found that many juice drinks given to children actually contain enough that parents would probably like to know.
Fruit itself could give you a buzz if you ate enough of it, particularly fruit that is ripe or overripe, like bananas.
Ripe bananas have around 0.2% ABV, but as they ripen further, they get more boozy, up to 0.6% ABV.
Last, and perhaps most surprising, is soy sauce.
Soy sauce, made from soybeans, can contain 1.5-2.0% ABV. It’s made from a brewing process that’s similar to wine or beer, and as the starch in the wheat breaks down during fermentation, it turns into ethanol.
Soy sauce is almost as strong as a weak beer, though I’m not sure even the most desperate alcohol-seeker could manage to chug that much of it.
Be careful out there, particularly if alcohol is something you’re looking to avoid. Or don’t want to feed it to your kids.
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