36 Surprising State Food Facts

Almost every state has a declared state food of some sort. Some seem straightforward, like California's state fruit of avocado, while others seem a little odd. From state declared snack foods, beverages, and record breaking shrimp consumption, we compiled the craziest state food facts you may not even believe. 

It may seem insane, but in 2014 the Alabama House of representatives took the time to vote cornbread as the official bread. This is one of 30 state emblems Alabama holds dear. 

The actual origins are a mystery, but it's assumed it has to do with the icy center. 

Americans really loves milk. Arkansas considers cow's milk to be the official state drink, among 19 other states who also claim the beverage to be their own. 

The state's lieutenant governor declared the state's official vegetable, fruit, nut, and more while the state governor was away visiting China. If you get the power, we suppose you have to use it somehow. 

Though not an official nickname, the state is called the Nutmeg State after colonials carved fake nutmeg out of oak and sold it as the rare and expensive spice. 

We figured if a state was going to declare an herb it's official one, it would be something we were familiar with. Sweet goldenrod was established as the official state herb in 1996, and is common in teas. 

Everyone knows Florida is the state for oranges, but who knew they had declared oranges both their state fruit and state beverage? 

And we're not talking peaches. Georgia's official state crop is the peanut, and the state loves it so much they erected the world's largest peanut, opened a peanut museum, and operate the world's largest peanut shelling plant. 

The state declared the famous Idaho potato to hold both titles. 

The state declared popcorn the official state snack food even though Indiana boasts producing 20% of the country's popcorn supply. 

Every year the Iowa State Fair rolls around as the largest state event in Iowa and one of the oldest and largest agricultural and industrial expositions in the country. If you find yourself in Iowa early August, check out the nearly 200 food stands and 70 treats sold on a stick. 

The Kentucky born soda still thrives today as the state's official soft drink. You can toss it into tons of recipes, and even purchase apparel with the logo. 

The official state jellies of Louisiana, Mayhaw jelly and Louisiana sugar cane jelly are also a part of the official state meal of North Louisiana. 

The slightly bitter beverage is disliked by some, but beloved by enough for it to be the official sot drink of Maine. 

Smith Island Cake doesn't necessarily come to mind when you think Maryland, but the eight to twelve layer yellow cake with chocolate frosting follows the same color scheme of the state bird, insect, flower, and cat. 

Who knew states could even have an official bean? We guess when you're known as Beantown, it makes sense. 

Both cherries and blueberries were brought to the table as options, and even apples were considered. But the Great Lake State has yet to declare one the winner. 

As one of two states that have declared an official state mushroom, Minnesota chose the rare morel mushroom to represent them. 

In fact, Mississippi hasn't declared any state foods. 

Short for Montana tendergroins and most commonly known as Rocky Mountain oysters, these fried bits of meat are actually made from animal testicals. They are most often served in the rocky mountain region. 

There's a lot of history behind Kool-Aid (which is arguably not a soft drink), but Nebraska drank so much they had to pledge their loyalty officially. 

Maybe it's the endless shrimp cocktails in Las Vegas, but the state consumes more than 60,000 pounds of the shellfish every day. 

New Hampshire's official state fruit is a pumpkin, New Jersey's state vegetable is a tomato, and New Mexico's state vegetable is a pinto bean. Pumpkins are (comically) truly a fruit, but last we checked, tomatoes are fruits and pinto beans are legumes. 

We thought bagels, pizza, or hot dogs would make it to the official New York food list, but yogurt takes the title. 

The state couldn't make a decision, so the official state blue berry was declared as blueberries and the official state red berry as strawberries. 

Excuse us while we head up to North Dakota to taste test this mysterious state fruit. 

Another official state fruit we've never even heard of, and it's the largest edible fruit native to the United States. How patriotic, Ohio. 

The official meal of Oklahoma consists of fried okra, squash, cornbread, barbecued pork, biscuits, sausage and gravy, grits, corn, strawberries, chicken fried steak, black-eyed peas, and pecan pie. If that doesn't scream Southern cuisine, we don't know what does. 

Oregon loves their beer so much, they declared brewer's yeast as the official state microbe. 

The proposed (and generally accepted) official state cookie of Pennsylvania is chocolate chip, but sugar cookies and oatmeal chocolate chip were so close in the running, none of the cookie motions ever passed. 

The official state drink of milk and coffee syrup is so popular, you can find coffee milk in the dairy aisle next to other flavored milks.

Sure, it's called fry bread, but the flat dough is deep fried in oil and served with sweet toppings or taco style. It's more of a carnival treat than your go-to supermarket loaf. 

Texas has more state foods than we can count (pumpkin, cactus, chili, pecan pie, jalapeno, and more) but our favorite is the Tex-Mex staple chips and salsa. 

The state senator hosts "Jell-o with the senator" events in his Washington, D.C. office.  

Maple syrup flows like honey throughout the entire state, so it's only fitting the official flavor of Vermont is maple. 

The Kringle comes from Danish immigrants who flocked to Wisconsin, deeming Wisconsin the Kringle Capital of the World.