12 Tip Tests That Truly Failed to Blow Our Minds

One of the things we really love over here is experimenting in the kitchen. When we read about a tip that sounds way too good to be true, or something totally off the wall, we feel compelled to try it for ourselves.

We’ve come across some totally mind-blowing tips, like bringing flat Champagne back to life with a raisin and cooking salmon in the dishwasher (yes, really!), but along the way we’ve tested quite a few tips that were failures, flops, and truly failed to blow our minds.

We love testing all sorts of tips in the kitchen, and the more outrageous, the better. Sometimes these pay off, totally blow our minds, and prove life-changing. And then of course, we test some tips that are complete and utter disappointments.

While you can hard-cook eggs in the oven, the taste is off and the results are mediocre at best. Stick with our tried-and-true method of hard-boiling eggs on the stovetop!

We heard lemon juice was the secret trick to reviving slightly wilted lettuce. We hoped it was true, but it turns out lemon juice doesn’t make this leafy green any more crisp than if it was soaked in a bowl of cold water.

If you don’t use powdered sugar very often, why buy it when you can make your own, right? Wrong! While a nice idea, the homemade version doesn’t have the same delicate texture you know and expect from powdered sugar. It’s questionable whether the coarseness would change the texture of a recipe, plus it’s not visually appealing.

Most recipes call for rinsing quinoa vigorously for a few minutes before cooking it, claiming that it will wash away a bitter natural coating on the quinoa seeds. We did a side-by-side taste test: rinsed quinoa versus unrinsed quinoa. The unrinsed version proved to be a little nuttier and earthier, but there was no bitterness, and definitely no mind-blowing difference in taste.

Some people insist that when bananas are separated, they last longer than when they’re kept as a bunch. Here’s what we say: Store your bananas however you want! Bananas do not ripen significantly slower when they’re separated.

The idea of a fat-free popcorn made on the stovetop with a spoonful of water instead of oil sounded way to good to be true. And sure enough, it was. We were hopeful and intrigued, but this tip fell seriously short of blowing our minds.

Do you really get more juice from a lemon sliced lengthwise than from a lemon (of equal weight) sliced crosswise? We were skeptical, and rightly so. Lemon halves cut lengthwise are a lot more flexible and easier to squeeze, but they only produce nominally more juice than if they were cut crosswise.

They do look nice, I’ll give you that. But these cookie bowls proved to be more of a hassle than anything else. If you do try to attempt them, don’t be surprised at how many of the bowls crumble and break when released from the mold.

You can huff and puff, but good luck getting that egg to budge out of the shell. And while it might work after much effort, you’re more likely to feel dizzy and lightheaded. Stick with peeling your hard-boiled eggs the old-fashioned way.

Stick a bottle of wine inside a shoe, whack it against a wall, and watch the cork come out. That’s the idea, anyway. While others have had varying degrees of success, we did not. There are more efficient (and safe) ways to open a bottle of wine. Call me boring, but I’m happy to stick with a corkscrew.

The theory is that a potato is the perfect vehicle to absorb excess salt. And while this starchy root vegetable does soak up some of the excess, you’re still left with over-salted soup. Your best bet is to season as you go and not oversalt your soup in the first place.

An easier way to peel hard-boiled eggs? I think we’d all love that. Unfortunately, despite what various sources around the Internet suggest, adding baking soda to the cooking water does not make this task any easier.

Have you tried any of these tips?