If you’re a regular reader of this blog, the chances are that you are not only a lover of food but also have a passion for cooking. In fact, studies have shown that baking and cooking helps relieve stress and can also excite your creative juices.
But, the beauty of cooking and food is that there is always something new to learn and incorporate into your recipes. As a result, prepare yourself! Today, we’re going to be revealing some peculiar and surprising food hacks that can make you a better cook in 2022. And, trust me, some of these are game-changers and mind-blowers!
Make potatoes last for months!
You may think that when potatoes start to feel squishy or start sprouting nodes, it’s time for some composting or a straight trip to the bin. However, what if I told you that you could expand the lifetime of potatoes by months, thus reducing food waste? You can do this by storing potatoes in a dark and cool place. This keeps them from being exposed to ultraviolet light, the main factor for them turning bad quickly.
Make perfect round fried eggs
Who doesn’t like fried eggs? They are delicious but they can be messy. To keep them from spreading all over the ban, crack the egg into thick slices of onions. This will keep your eggs perfectly round and are perfect for homemade muffins and breakfast baps. If you want to avoid your eggs tasting a little like onions, use a mason jar ring instead.
Cook with olive oil
According to the American Heart Association (AHA), olive oil is one of the healthiest and best cooking oils around the world. This is because olive oil has a high concentration of monounsaturated fatty acids, which is a healthy type of fat, and this helps lower the risk of heart disease.
Furthermore, extra-virgin olive oil holds antioxidants that combat inflammation caused by stress, diet and environmental exposures.
Keep cookies soft with bread
There’s nothing better than a batch of fresh homemade cookies. However, there’s nothing worse than those cookies going stale. Homemade cookies go stale quicker than store-bought one’s due to a lack of preservatives.
To make your cookies last longer, put a slice of bread into the same tin/container you are storing your homemade cookies in. The moisture from the bread will transfer into the cookies via osmosis, thus extending their potential for a few more days.
Three knives!
One aspect of the kitchen that people often ignore is their equipment, specifically their knives. You need to have three knives! And these can’t just be any knives; you need a pairing knife (for dicing and mincing small ingredients), a classic chef’s knife (for dicing veg, cutting meat, chopping herbs) and a bread knife (butter, bread, slice soft veg).
This is professional advice and one that can lead to a more uniform and professional looking final dish.
Air fry your eggs
The best way to fry your eggs is to air fry them. If you have an air fryer, preheat it to 270 degrees, add a few eggs to the fryer and cook them for 10 to 14 minutes. Once this is done, deposit the eggs in an ice bath for maximum flavour potential. Air frying eggs is so much healthier than oil frying and packs in the flavour without any potential for flavour loss.
Microwave your citrus to get more juice
We’ve all been there right? Hands and wrist pushed to the max as we squeeze our lemons and limes, looking for every drop of juice. If you want more fruits for your labour – forgive me – you should put your citrus fruits in the microwave before squeezing them.
Microwaving citrus fruits softens the fibrous membranes in the citrus, making it much easier to draw juice from them. Alternatively, roll your lemon/lime on the countertop – as if you’re kneading dough – to achieve the same effect.
Freeze Sweet Potatoes to make them fluffier
Did you know that freezing sweet potatoes before baking them will leave you with a pleasant, charred exterior and an even fluffier and softer inside? This is because freezing the potatoes allows their flesh to m acerate from the inside out. The high roasting temps then caramelise the sugars seeping out, whilst also trapping steam that separates the skin from the flesh. Doesn’t that sound delightful?
Leave garlic for 10 mins to unlock special properties
After you dice garlic, you can be forgiven for just throwing it straight into your dish. But, did you know that leaving garlic for 10 minutes actually unlocks some very special properties?
Leaving garlic for 10 minutes, unlocks the alliinase (a sulfoxide) inside. This compound has antibacterial, antiviral and anti-fungal properties. So, slow your roll, let your garlic breathe and reap the rewards.
Fluffy eggs using lemon juice
When you add lemon juice into your eggs, as you are whipping them up, it creates a cloud-like consistency. This happens because the lemon juice helps create a stiffer structure that holds air bubbles. These bubbles then help create yummier and fluffier eggs. Furthermore, the lemon juice makes eggs cook slower by diluting the proteins found in the egg.
Did you learn a new food hack today? Do you have a personal hack that no one knows about? Share it with us today and keep an eye on Healthier Matters for more wellness, health, diet and nutrition articles, guides and how-tos.
Author: Lucy Walker
Lucy Walker is a journalist, author and health living enthusiast who has been involved with health writing since 2014.
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Loving these. My favourite is the garlic, I had no idea! I also love to air fry eggs. They’re such a healthy option and in the air fryer, it’s so quick. I like to crack them into a cupcake holder, though, and they’re like poached eggs then!