I remember the first time I read a description of palm oil. It was in a novel--but now I can't remember what novel--and the protagonist, as a small child, had seen someone get shot, and thinks that the blood looks like palm oil.

That morbid detail was what revealed to me that palm oil was red! All the cooking oil I've ever experienced has been shades of yellow.

An ingredient that I bought and then had to discover recipes to use was tamarind paste :-)