I love a good food-hack Facebook video. But, like you, I’ve always wondered whether they actually work or not. So I decided to put them to the test…
It’s important to note that I followed all the videos’ (limited) directions – with more instructions, it’s possible that there are different results available. Let us know if you’ve found that to be the case!
These are the results:
1. Cutting perfect tomato slices with the help of a fork
This one sort of works. You’ll get nice, even slices for about half the tomato, but then you need to move the fork and it gets messy. Also, having to hold the fork and tomato at the same time while you cut is a bit difficult.
2. Make popcorn by microwaving a mielie in a bag
I laughed and laughed when I first saw this and I KNEW it wasn’t going to work because of logic and reasons, but I did it anyway. You know what happens? You get a burnt mielie. That’s it.
3. Water + oven = stale bread fresh again
This didn’t work for me. Someone on Twitter told me I did it wrong, but I followed the directions in the video: pour water over bread and then put it in the oven for eight minutes. That’s what I did and I basically got toast. The bread was indeed soft on the inside, but I’m not sure this one really works.
4. Bake a hard avo to ‘ripen’ it
I covered the avo in foil and put it in the oven for 10 minutes. You know what I got? A warm avo (that was slightly softer on the outside). I could cut it, but I definitely wouldn’t eat it.
For years I’ve used a knife and it was torture – plus, I would end up cutting half the ginger away. Using a spoon is an awesome trick that actually works really well.
6. De-shell boiled eggs by shaking it in a container
I doubted this one. I thought it was just going to mess water everywhere (it did), but the shell did actually come right off.
7. Microwave your lemon to maximise on juicing
This one works really well; you get so much more juice out!
8. Peel garlic by shaking it in a container
This one does mostly work, but it’s important to loosen up the clove properly beforehand.
9. Use a glass to get an avo out of its skin
This one definitely works – I know because I’ve tried it before. Once, I showed it to a friend, who lost her mind and called me a witch. Win-win.
10. De-shell an egg with a tablespoon
If you don’t want to use the shaking method, you can also get the shell of a boiled egg with the back of a tablespoon, but you do risk hurting the egg itself.
11. Make whipped cream in a jar
I’ve whipped enough cream for Christmas trifles to know that it takes a long time to get the cream to the right consistency, and that it can curdle really quickly. So I had my doubts before beginning to shake and after five minutes, I was proven right. The cream wasn’t anywhere near whipped. (According to the internet, this can work, but it relies on a very specific cream-to-jar ratio that possibly renders the whole thing a bit more effort than it’s worth.)
The lesson? Take those food hacks with a grain of salt – not all of them actually work, and they’re definitely not magic.
ALSO SEE… WATCH: We’ve been eating pineapples the wrong way all along