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Marsha, Penghina SMA Negri, Menjadi Trending Topic di Twitter

Marsha, Penghina SMA Negri, Menjadi Trending Topic di Twitter

@marshaaaw (http://twitter.com/marshaaaw)

7 jam yang lalu followersnya masih 213, sekarang udah 4200++, Mau tau rahasianya? Dengan menghina sekolah-sekolah negri, lalu membanggakan sekolah SWASTA NYA

Screenshot twitter Marsha:






Jadi Trending Topic di Twiiter


sumber: http://www.mypepito.info/2010/02/marsha-si-abg-penghina-sma-negri.html


Top 10 Bizarre Traditions

Top 10 Bizarre Traditions
Most of these traditions are now a part of history (and in most cases that is a good thing) and most are considered barbaric or evil. Yet some of them have only stopped recently. This is the list of the top 10 bizarre traditions that are now mostly lost to mankind. Warning: Contains adult material.

10
Geisha
Geisha
The full traditions of the Geisha have now been replaced with a modern system. Once Geisha were plentiful in number. In 1900s, there were over 25,000 geisha. In the early 1930s, there were 80,000 geisha. Most geisha were in Kyoto, the old capital city of Japan. Nowadays, there are less than
10,000 geisha left. In Tokyo, there are only 100 geisha left. However, true geisha are much more rare. Modern geisha are not bought from poor families and brought into the geisha house as children. Becoming a geisha is now entirely voluntary, and women who are not the children of geisha can now become geisha. However the training remains as rigourous as before. Young girls have to be very committed to learn the art of traditional Japanese dancing, singing, music, and much more.
Traditional Geisha did not offer the services of prostitution, though some modern ones are rumored to.

9
Dueling
Duel-1
As practised from the 15th to 20th centuries in Western societies, a duel was a consensual fight between two people, with matched deadly weapons, in accordance with rules explicitly or implicitly agreed upon, over a point of honor, usually accompanied by a trusted representative (who might themselves fight), and in contravention of the law.
The duel usually developed out of the desire of one party (the challenger) to redress a perceived insult to his honor. The goal of the duel was not so much to kill the opponent as to gain “satisfaction,” i.e., to restore one’s honor by demonstrating a willingness to risk one’s life for it.
Duels could be fought with some sort of sword or, from the 18th Century on, with pistols. For this end special sets of duelling pistols were crafted for the wealthiest of noblemen. After the offence, whether real or imagined, the offended party would demand “satisfaction” from the offender, signalling this demand with an inescapably insulting gesture, such as throwing the glove before him, hence the phrase “throwing down the gauntlet”.

8
Eunuchs
Eunuch
First off, in case you are confused, the photograph above is of a male Eunich. A eunuch is a castrated man; the term usually refers to those castrated in order to perform a specific social function, as was common in many societies of the past. In ancient China castration was both a traditional punishment (until the Sui Dynasty) and a means of gaining employment in the Imperial service. At the end of the Ming Dynasty there were 70,000 eunuchs in the Imperial palace. The value of such employment—certain eunuchs gained immense power that may have superseded that of the prime ministers—was such that self-castration had to be made illegal. The number of eunuchs in Imperial employ had fallen to 470 in 1912, when their employment ceased
Eunuchs castrated before puberty were also valued and trained in several cultures for their exceptional voices, which retained a childlike and other-worldly flexibility and treble pitch. Such eunuchs were known as castrati. Unfortunately the choice had to be made at an age when the boy would not yet be able to consciously choose whether to sacrifice his sexual potency, and there was no guarantee that the voice would remain of musical excellence after the operation. You can read more about castrati here.
Play / Download an MP3 of a true castratotaken from Top 10 Incredible Recordings.

7
Concubinage
Concubines
The photograph here shows a group of concubines standing behind their protectors (usually Eunuchs). Concubinage is the state of a woman or youth in an ongoing, quasi-matrimonial relationship with a man of higher social status. Typically, the man has an official wife in addition to one or more concubines. Concubines have limited rights of support from the man, and their offspring are publicly acknowledged as the man’s children, albeit of lower status than children born by the official wife or wives.
Historically, concubinage was frequently voluntary (by the girl and/or her family’s arrangement), as it provided a measure of economic security for the woman involved. Involuntary, or servile, concubinage sometimes involves sexual slavery of one member of the relationship, typically the woman.

6
Seppuku
Seppuku2
Seppuku (Hara-Kiri) was a key part of bushido, the code of the samurai warriors; it was used by warriors to avoid falling into enemy hands, and to attenuate shame. Samurai could also be ordered by their daimyo (feudal lords) to commit seppuku. Later, disgraced warriors were sometimes allowed to commit seppuku rather than be executed in the normal manner. Since the main point of the act was to restore or protect one’s honor as a warrior, those who did not belong to the samurai caste were never ordered or expected to commit seppuku. Samurai women could only commit the act with permission.
A Samurai was bathed, dressed in white robes, fed his favorite meal, and when he was finished, his instrument was placed on his plate. Dressed ceremonially, with his sword placed in front of him and sometimes seated on special cloths, the warrior would prepare for death by writing a death poem. With his selected attendant (kaishakunin, his second) standing by, he would open his kimono (clothing), take up his tantō (knife) and plunge it into his abdomen, making a left-to-right cut. The kaishakunin would then perform daki-kubi, a cut in which the warrior was all but decapitated (a slight band of flesh is left attaching the head to the body).

5
Human Sacrifice
Sacrifice-I-F-6R
Human sacrifice is the act of killing a human being for the purposes of making an offering to a deity or other, normally supernatural, power. It was practiced in many ancient cultures. The practice has varied between different cultures, with some like the Mayans and Aztecs being notorious for their ritual killings, while others have looked down on the practice as primitive. Victims were ritually killed in a manner that was supposed to please or appease gods or spirits. Victims ranged from prisoners to infants to Vestal Virgins, who suffered such fates as burning, beheading and being buried alive.
Over time human sacrifice has become less common around the world, and sacrifices are now very rare. Most religions condemn the practice and present-day laws generally treat it as a criminal matter. Nonetheless it is still occasionally seen today, especially in the least developed areas of the world where traditional beliefs persist.

4
Foot Binding
Boundfeet
Footbinding was a custom practised on young females for approximately one thousand years in China, beginning in the 10th century and ending in the early 20th century. In Chinese foot binding, young girls’ feet, usually at age 6 but often earlier, were wrapped in tight bandages so that they could not grow and develop normally; they would, instead, break and become highly deformed, not growing past 4-6 inches (10-15 cm). Today, it is a prominent cause of disability among some elderly Chinese women.
First, each foot would be soaked in a warm mixture of herbs and animal blood. This concoction caused any necrotised flesh to fall off. Then her toenails were cut back as far as possible to prevent ingrowth and subsequent infections. To prepare her for what was to come next the girl’s feet were delicately massaged. Silk or cotton bandages, ten feet long and two inches wide, were prepared by soaking in the same blood and herb mix as before. Each of the toes were then broken and wrapped in the wet bandages, which would constrict when drying, and pulled tightly downwards toward the heel. There may have been deep cuts made in the sole to facilitate this. You can read more about the terrible practice of foot binding here.

3
Sati
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Sati was a Hindu funeral custom, now very rare and a serious criminal act in India, in which the dead man’s widow would throw herself on her husband’s funeral pyre in order to commit suicide. The act of sati was supposed to take place voluntarily, and from the existing accounts, most of them were indeed voluntary. The act may have been expected of widows in some communities. The extent to which any social pressures or expectations should be considered as compulsion has been the matter of much debate in modern times. It is frequently stated that a widow could expect little of life after her husband’s death, especially if she was childless. However, there were also instances where the wish of the widow to commit sati was not welcomed by others, and where efforts were made to prevent the death.

2
Self-Mummification
Sokushinbutsu
Sokushinbutsu were Buddhist monks or priests who allegedly caused their own deaths in a way that resulted in their being mummified. This practice reportedly took place almost exclusively in northern Japan around the Yamagata Prefecture. Between 16 and 24 such mummifications have been discovered.
For three years the priests would eat a special diet consisting only of nuts and seeds, while taking part in a regimen of rigorous physical activity that stripped them of their body fat. They then ate only bark and roots for another three years and began drinking a poisonous tea made from the sap of the Urushi tree, normally used to lacquer bowls. This caused vomiting and a rapid loss of bodily fluids, and most importantly, it killed off any maggots that might cause the body to decay after death. Finally, a self-mummifying monk would lock himself in a stone tomb barely larger than his body, where he would not move from the lotus position. His only connection to the outside world was an air tube and a bell. Each day he rang a bell to let those outside know that he was still alive. When the bell stopped ringing, the tube was removed and the tomb sealed. You can read more about this practice here.

1
Tibetan Sky Burial
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Sky burial or ritual dissection was once a common practice in Tibet. A human corpse is cut into small pieces and placed on a mountaintop, exposing it to the elements and animals – especially to birds of prey. In one account, the leading mok cut off the limbs and hacked the body to pieces, handing each part to his assistants, who used rocks to pound the flesh and bones together to a pulp, which they mixed with tsampa (barley flour with tea and yak butter or milk) before the vultures were summoned to eat.
In several accounts, the flesh was stripped from the bones and given to vultures without further preparation; the bones then were broken up with sledgehammers, and usually mixed with tsampa before being given to the vultures. In another account, vultures were given the whole body. When only the bones remained, they were broken up with mallets, ground with tsampa, and given to crows and hawks that had waited until the vultures had departed.
The Communist government of China outlawed it in the 1960s so it was nearly a lost tradition, but they legalised it again in the 1980s.

Top 10 Bizarre Tourist Attractions

Top 10 Bizarre Tourist Attractions
Here is a list to help anyone heading off on a vacation. Instead of seeing the usual tourist attractions, why not check out some of this more offbeat ones? There is something for everyone and you may even end up making new friends with equally strange taste.

10
Noodle Bath
Japan
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The Japanese do everything that other people do, but sometimes in very different ways. One day because somebody thought it was mundane to have a bath with water and soap, he decided to have bath in Noodles and soon enough other people wanted to do the same. Apparently, pepper
collagen, the ingredient used in pork broth improves metabolism and clears your skin. Acne is also said to vanish after one session. This same bath previously filled their spas with beaujolais wine and chocolate.

9
Vale de la prehistoria
Cuba
20081211090510-Parque-Prehistoria-Santiago
It is not certain whether Fidel roped in Michael Crichton to oversee the construction of this experiment in anachronism, but even Jurassic Park’s creator would feel a little bizarre in the milieu of life-size prehistoric creatures completed by inmates from a nearby prison. Spread over an area of 11 hectares, the 200 life-sized prehistoric creatures in the Santiago de Cuba province range from the brontosaurus to cave men, creating a kind of Communist theme park with shades of the Flintstones thrown in.

8
Karni Mata Temple
India
Karni Mata Temple3
Rajasthan, India. The land of Maharajas, palaces, deserts, camels and-the Karni Mata temple which not only serves as a refuge for rodents but a place where they are worshipped as well. Built in the early twentieth century by Maharaja Ganga Singh of Bikaner in reverence to Karni Mata, a female Hindu sage, the temples ostentation serves as no indication to the experience one is going to get. So high is the status of rats in this citadel of devotion that an accidental death of one of the inhabitants will require a replacement with a replica in solid gold.

7
International Friendship Exhibition Hall
North Korea
Friendship-Exhibition-04
In the city of Pyongyang, which one journalist described as being a ‘Stalinist theme park’, lies the International Friendship Exhibition Hall. In this structure are housed 90, 000 or more gifts accumulated over the years by the great leader Kim Il Sung. The list of admirers include former Soviet prime ministers Gregory Malenkov and Nikolai Bulganin, Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, Cuba’s Fidel Castro and Zimbabwe’s Robert Mugabe. But the gifts themselves are most interesting-silver chopsticks from Mongolia, a gold cigarette case presented by Marshall Tito of Yugoslavia, chess boards from Colonel Qaddafi and a grinning alligator offering drinks from a wooden tray sent all the way from Nicaragua. Surely, friendship has its rewards.

6
Isla de las Munecas
Mexico
Deaddollsesparta
Julián Santana Barrera collected dolls which were discarded. Legend had it that he did it to appease the spirit of a girl who drowned in the river. The bizarre collection stares when you navigate through the canals of Xochimico and to make the story more interesting, Barrera succumbed to the same fate as that little girl for whom he labored so hard.

5
Cockroaches Hall of Fame
United States
Cockroaches
Ross Peroach, David Letteroach and Marlin Monroach are some of the characters you will acquaint yourself with when you visit Michael Bohdan’s Cockroaches Hall of Fame in Plano, Texas. A pioneering pest control specialist, he took it upon himself to impersonate famous characters in the most bizarre way possible: through the medium of deceased cockroaches. However, if you are not into dead ones, he has Madagascar hissing roaches as well… and they are alive and kicking.

4
Bang Kwang Prison
Thailand
Bangkwang Prison 1
Most travelers are not bored in Bangkok but if malaise sets in there is always the Bangkok prison to go to. Why? Because for a price you can interact with the inmates, some of them western travelers whose holiday went horribly wrong. Brought into the spotlight by the 1999 movie Brokedown Palace, this highly fortified bastion derives its allure from the possibility of actually showcasing 7000 specimens imprisoned for crimes ranging from drug smuggling to murder. Moreover, you quickly learn not to commit such crimes when you are in Thailand.

3
Neutrality Arch
Turkmenistan
Screen Shot 2009-11-22 At 5.21.30 Pm
If you ever hazard to travel the silk route like the pioneering traders centuries ago, the city of Ashgabat in the former Soviet republic of Turkmenistan will introduce you to one of its own great denizens: Saparmurat Niyazov. Niyazov (Turkmenistan’s leader after independence) etched his name onto everything in the country, but most famously he built for himself the Neutrality Arch. To secure his place in history as a megalomaniac, he ordered his statue to be placed at the top, revolving continuously such that he always faces the sun. And to top it all he called the structure ‘Neutrality Arch’, a word which you can hardly use for a man who ruled with an iron fist.

2
Sekigahara War World
Japan
Sekigaharawarworld
In Gifu prefecture lies an oddball theme park which recreates the great battle of Sekigahara. As if a solemn monument was not enough, an enterprising businessman recreated this epic battle replete with life size concrete structures of beheading, ritual suicides and hand to hand combat. If you are not satisfied with the gore, the song titled ‘Ah, the decisive battle of Sekigahara’ on an endless loop will soothe your ears.

1
Karner Bone House
Austria
Karner Hallstatter Bone House - Austria 36.Jpg
Perhaps the unlikeliest of places to host an ossuary, the Karner Bone House in the bucolic Austrian town of Hallstrat would far more easily be associated with the ‘Sound of music’. However, it is more noted now for being host to painted skulls in decorations such as flowers, leaves and serpents. Why? Because of the acute lack of space and the urgent need to recycle graves. Very surprising when you consider only 2,100 skulls of the 30,000 known deaths and burials were documented.

Gundukan Tanah Mirip Manusia Muncul di Dalam Mushola

Gundukan Tanah Mirip Manusia Muncul di Dalam Mushola
http://surabaya.detik.com/images/content/2010/02/16/475/tanah-mirip-manusia-dalam.jpg
Warga Dusun Krajan, Desa Mlandingan Kulon, Kecamatan Mlandingan, Situbondo digegerkan dengan munculnya gundukan tanah di dlam sebuah mushola. Gundukan tanah yang muncul di atas keramik ini menyerupai bentuk manusia.

Tidak dikatahui secara pasti, dari mana asal tanah yang jika diperhatikan sekilas, mirip manusia sedang terlentang tersebut.

Dari informasi yang dihimpun, pertama kali yang mengetahui keanehan itu adalah Ibu Sulaksana, anak pengelola Mushola. Awalnya, Sulaksana sempat mengira gundukan itu tanah rayap.

Ibu Sulaksana sendiri menerangkan, munculnya tanah itu diperkirakan pada malam Jumat lalu. “Saat itu paginya saya mau menyapu di dalam mushola, saya pikir ada orang tidur setelah saya amati ternyata hanya gundukan tanah,” tuturnya, , Selasa (16/2/2010).

Namun, meski sudah 5 hari, tanah tersebut hingga saat ini masih terlihat basah.

Kabar munculnya tanah mirip manusia itu dengan cepat beredar di masyarakat. Kini Mushola itu tidak pernah sepi dari warga hanya untuk melihat keanehan tersebut. Bahkan sejumlah warga menganggap kalau tanah itu memiliki kesaktian.

Pengamatan detiksurabaya.com, warga yang berkunjung ke Mushola itu sebagian besar menabur bunga di gundukan tanah itu. “Ini merupakan kebesaran dan keagungan Allah, jadi perlu untuk kita hormati,” tutur A Nawi, salah satu warga dari Kecamatan Besuki.

Sering Terjadi Hal Aneh

Singkat cerita, konon almarhum Mbah Sujitno pendiri Mushola terkenal sebagai orang sakti. Sejak Mbah Sujitno meninggal, warga mengaku sering melihat keanehan di dalam mushola itu.

“Dulu pernah ada kejadian juga, tiba-tiba muncul cahaya mirip lampu petromak, tapi kemuadian cahaya itu hilang,” terang Razak, salah satu warga setempat

sumber: detiksurabaya.com

Top 10 Bizarre But True Drugs And Their Effects

Top 10 Bizarre But True Drugs And Their Effects
Seeking the ultimate high, people have ingested all kinds of bizarre chemicals and plants through history. Fortunately they have related (those who lived anyway) their experiences so we can now recount them to you. Prepare to be shocked by some of the contents on this list – you will almost certainly not know the drugging abilities of the majority of these. They may not be the most pleasant alternatives for when you run out of weed, but they certainly work. This list starts off with quite a bang, so get reading.

10
Anafranil (clomipramine)
42-15222322.Jpg
Anafranil is an anti-depressant that causes people to have orgasms every time they yawn. Yeah. No joke. A 1983 article in the Canadian Journal of Psychiatry found a case of a woman in her twenties
who came every time she yawned! She even used it to her advantage: “She found she was able to experience orgasm by deliberate yawning.” This is one drug that had better not be outlawed. Now I just need to find a doctor willing to prescribe it!

9
DDT
Ddt.Jpg
Yes, this pesticide – which has now been made illegal in many countries, can produce feelings somewhat like Ecstasy (Hear that environmentalists?? You inadvertently banned a great hallucinogenic-drug!) A popular cocktail was made during the ’50s (called the Mickey Slim) was made by adding a small amount of DDT to gin! In the image above we see two women getting utterly stoned on DDT.

8
DIPT
Nyt Audio Hallucination.Jpg
DIPT is a tryptamine that affects auditory (sound-based) functions. Users experience things such as voices on the radio being lower in pitch than usual, music sounds distorted, and some people experience light hallucinations. The drug can cause the odd feeling of being bloated, but if you take an antacid immediately after consumption, it usually solved the problem. During the drugged experience, some users also claim to hear a constant ringing in their ears – this can (unfortunately) last for up to two weeks.

7
Saffron
Picture 4-15
Saffron is a flower used as a food additive. The Encyclopedia of Psychoactive Substances states that the orange-yellow flower “…is known to have…narcotic effects similar to those of opium.” Saffron actually has an ancient history of use as a drug – the Ancient Minoans used to drink a tea infusion of it to get high and the Persians and Greeks considered it an aphrodisiac. The Romans and Egyptians used it in various medicines.

6
Catnip
Picture 5-13
It’s not just for cats anymore! Many who have smoked it say that it gives a mellow, pot-like buzz. Though most warn that you should not get your hopes up too high. It leaves a minty aftertaste and is apparently much easier to smoke that pot (and doesn’t cause coughing).

5
Xenon (Xe)
Xenon.Jpg
Xenon is a heavy, odorless, inert gas that can be found in the Earth’s atmosphere, lasers, gas-discharge lamps, medical imaging, in the process of creating nuclear power, for protein crystallography, in the production of MEMS (microelectromechanical systems), and for anesthesia. Naturally, most anesthetics – like nitrous oxide and Novocaine (which is made from cocaine), have hallucinogenic side-effects. It’s effects are said to be like that of nitrous oxide, except without the auditory-effects and the “headachiness”. One anonymous user on the web-site “Lyceaum” said that it gives the user an ability to, “…zero in on ’singularity’ thoughts and memories and hold them for ’sentimental orgasms’…”

4
Various Venoms and Poisons
Arsenic1.Jpg
Many poisons (such as arsenic and strychnine) and venoms have been known to have hallucinogenic (and sometimes beneficial) effects! Mountain-climbers in late-19th-Century Austria regularly consumed arsenic to, “…obtain healthy and sturdy looks…to appear strong and robust…”, and to “…facilitate breathing while climbing…” (Baron Ernst von Bibra.) In the 1902 book, “Morphinism and Narcomanias From Other Drugs”, it even says that a person can develop an addiction to arsenic. As for venom, The Encyclopedia of Psychoactive Substances states that “…Holy men in India smoke cobra venom for its psychoactive effects. [T]heir dried venom glands or crystallized venom is often mixed with cannabis.” The Encyclopedia also reveals that ten Native American tribes in California were known to swallow live ants as a way of inducing hallucinations! The ants bite the stomach-lining, injecting their venom, and can be vomited while the ants are still alive.

3
C-4 Explosives
800Px-Eod2.Jpg
As everybody knows, C-4 is a very effective explosive (1.34 times more explosive than TNT!). But is it a drug? According to the book titled Uppers, Downers, All-Arrounders, it is! The authors state: “Modern veterans have been known to ingest C4…for their psychedelic effects. Tremors and seizure activity can result, but usually not an explosion, as it takes a blasting-cap to set off the chemical.” No joke. In fact, the Marine Corps training document on explosives includes the following caution: “Do not ingest any explosive material!”

2
Urine
Urine-Man.Jpg
At one time, Eskimos and tribes in Siberia were known to consume the urine of another person who had consumed fly agaric mushrooms (amanita muscaria). They did so for several reasons: Firstly, since there wasn’t an infinite supply of mushrooms, this approach help to conserve and economize them. Not only would drinking the urine of someone who had consumed the mushroom get you high, but also drinking the pee of the person who had drunk the first “batch” of urine would get you high! And so forth and so on, going up to 5 different “generations” of people! An added benefit was that pre-digested mushrooms didn’t cause as much nausea and cramps as just eating them directly. They loved this high so much, that they would butcher and eat reindeer who had also eaten fly agaric for a contact-high!

1
Salamander Brandy
Picture 6-8
No, it is not an alcohol made from salamanders, but rather from what they produce. Salamander brandy obviously can’t be found in your local liquor store. It is non-commercially produced in Slovenia. There are at least two ways of making it – both of which involve animal cruelty: (1) The salamanders are hung from their back legs, and brandy is poured onto their bodies, and drips into a cup. (2) The salamander is placed on a sieve, and brandy is poured onto them until they drown. The point of this is to infuse the alcohol with the poison salamanders produce when they are defending themselves. Nonetheless, it is said to produce symptoms like LCD and Ecstasy combined, in addition to the effects of the alcohol (although, the alcohol content is particularly low)!

Bonus
Old Books
Law Books Old Dusty.Jpg
Alright, it’s not exactly old books – it is the fungi and molds that occasionally grow on them! Some of these molds and fungi are said to have hallucinogenic effects. Don’t go eating pages of old books right-off-the-bat, though. They usually also come with side-effects, such as nausea, vomiting, dizziness, and confusion!
Source: The Disinformation Book of Lists

Top 10 Unusual Food Combinations

Top 10 Unusual Food Combinations
While some people know about these little tricks, the majority do not. These are small tips to help you improve the foods we commonly eat – most are recommended by top chefs and others by very experienced home cooks.

10. Carrots and Sugar
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While it may seem strange to add sugar to vegetables, it is a very common method of preparing
carrots in France. The technical term for this dish is Vichy Carrots, in which you combine Carrots, Salt, Pepper, sugar, and Vichy water (a sparkling water from the Vichy region) and cook them down until the carrots are glazed. The sugar heightens the flavor of the carrots and the end result is a stunning dish of brilliantly orange vegetables.

9. Coffee and Salt
Espresso-By-Window-Small
Add a touch of salt to coffee to heighten the flavor – this is a very common use of salt as it is used in virtually all dishes (including sweet dishes served for pudding). Just a pinch is enough to make a brilliant espresso.

8. Tomatoes and Sugar
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Use sugar, not salt. Tomatoes are already acidic and the addition of salt just increases that acidic flavor. Sugar sweetens and increases the tomato flavor. Tomatoes are fruits after all.

7. Chocolate and Coffee
Chocolate
When baking with chocolate, add a little coffee – it strengthens the chocolate flavor without adding a strong coffee flavor.

6. Meat and Aniseed
Beef-Stew-Recipe
When stewing meat, throw in a star anise – you can’t taste the aniseed but the flavor adds a deep richness to the meat. This is a trick used in all meat dishes by Heston Blumenthal the owner of the Fat Duck (3 Michelin stars) – voted the world’s best restaurant for three years in a row.

5. Cooking tomatoes and Foliage
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Throw in a tomato branch – the branch contains all of the flavor that we love in tomatoes – pick a leaf and smell it and you will see what I mean. Simply throw in a small stick of the tomato plant and it will give your cooked tomatoes a much stronger tomato flavor.

4. Potatoes and Nutmeg
Potatoes
Add nutmeg – just a little – it adds a depth to the potatoes that people won’t recognize, but will definitely like. This is true of virtually every potato dish.

3. Chili and Chocolate
Chili-Pepper-Madness
Add chocolate to chili. It deepens the meaty flavor of the chili while giving a strong base note to the peppers. This is a trick well known in the South where Chili bake-offs are common.

2. Apples and Vanilla
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Apples are very acidic and normally require some sugar in their cooking. Most people add nutmeg or cinnamon to their apple dishes, but vanilla extract adds a deep layer of flavor that most people won’t recognize but will certainly appreciate.

1. Strawberries and Pepper
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Strawberries (fresh) are usually served with a sprinkling of confectioners sugar, but the addition of very finely ground pepper (from fresh corns) heightens the flavor.