10 Life Hacks for the Kitchen: From Avocado Pits to Perfect Pomegranate Seeds
Fresh, healthy foods come equipped with an array of oddities like rough skin, spikes and pits. Use our 10 life hacks for the kitchen to deftly maneuver the peculiarities of your produce.
1. Avocado Pits: Cut your avocado in half lengthwise. Using a large knife, hit the pit with the blade and twist. The pit will pop right out. If you’re making fresh guacamole, save the pit for storing in with your leftover guac. Keeping the pit with the avocado will keep it nice and green instead of letting it go brown.
2. Sliceable Cherry Tomatoes: Here’s one of those life hacks so simple you’ll be shocked that you probably never thought of it before: put cherry tomatoes (or any fruit that rolls about, really) between two small plastic container lids. Slide your knife in-between the lids to cut the tomatoes in half.
3. Spreadable Butter: Make cold, straight from the fridge butter easily spreadable by running it through a shredder or grater. The butter will be spreadable in no time.
4. Peel Potatoes: Boil your potatoes, then submerge them in ice cold water and twist until the peels wipe away.
5. Bacon: What cooking tips list would be complete without a bacon tip? It’s tricky to cook perfectly. Try this easy method a la Alton Brown. Cook your bacon in your waffle iron. So simple and mess-free!
6. Bell Pepper Seeds: Cut the top and bottom off your bell peppers. Then use the knife to slice the entire flesh ring off of the seed pod. Once it’s off, you can slice or dice your pepper as desired.
7. Ginger Skin: Use a spoon or metal teaspoon to scrape the skin off of your ginger root. Though it looks super gnarly, the skin’s actually quite soft and scrapes away easily.
8. Egg Shells: If you get a bit of egg shell in your bowl, don’t use your fingers to chase it out. Take another piece of shell and stick it in the bowl near the fragment. Like attracts like and the shell piece will stick easily. The same method works with yolk bits that slip into your egg whites, too!
9. Citrus Juice: Roll your citrus on the counter before juicing. It will break the fruit and result in more juice extraction.
10. Pomegranate Arils: Submerge your pomegranate in water and pop the arils (the seeds and their covers) out. The arils will float to the surface and leave the pith behind. Or, you can break it open and bang it with a wooden spoon. The arils will fall into the bowl.
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Image: Barbara K.
