Things you can't believe you didn't know based on where you were brought up.

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What kind(s) of thing(s) do people know a lot about in your area? What were you brought up knowitn a lot about? You think you know a great deal about it and then you find out there was something you didn't know and is surprises you. Maple syrup is made every year up here. The town I grew up in has so many maple sugar shacks the there are 3 on the main road and at least 3 more on back roads that my family used to visit. Plus every year, I hear of a new one. I helped gather sap, I watched the people stirring it. I tasted sap as a kid. I feel badly now that they have plastic tubs so kids and adults don't get a chance to help out like they did. Anyway, I was researching about making birch syrup. They had something I had never heard of. Repeated freezing of the water in it, taking the ice off, and boiling the sugary water that is left. I had never heard of this; therefore, I was skeptical. Then they did the history of maple syrup in our newspaper. They said that Native Americans either heated it until they made syrup which was used right away and the rest was made into sure for keeping. Or they did repeated freezings and boiled the rest. Now when we get more money, a new freezer and repeated freezings sounds interesting. So much water is boiled out of the sap that my kitchen ceiling would collapse which is part of why people build sugar shacks with huge hoods over the evaporators. You can see smoke from the wood (if they still use wood, regrettably many use gas now) and steam from another spot coming out of the roof. Your turn, what did you learn that you can't believe you didn't know? Could this knowledge be of use to you in the future, if so, how?