Scientist and author, Beth is also a keen home cook. She enjoys trying new recipes.

How to Cut Onions Without Tears

It’s such a useful vegetable, but the tears it induces are no laughing matter. If you are a susceptible individual, as soon as you cut into an onion, your eyes start to smart, and your nose begins to run. The tears well up, and soon you are properly crying with reddened eyes and a streaming nose. However, a few simple steps can help you prevent this from happening.

1. Use a very sharp knife.
2. Chill the onions
3. Run the knife under cold water
4. Keep your hands cool
5. Use fresh onions
6. Make sure the room is well ventilated

Why Do Sharp Knives Reduce Onion Tears?

Professional chefs are constantly sharpening their knives. Not only does this make slicing and dicing easier, but it also helps the chef cut cleanly through the cell walls of the vegetables. A blunt knife squashes and pulverizes these, making them discharge more juice that in turn as a gas, irritates your eyes. I find it useful to keep a knife sharpener alongside my kitchen utensils. I recommend this Mueller sharpener. It’s compact and easy to use, and it helps improve my knife skills too.

How to Finely Chop an Onion: Gordon Ramsay

Why Do Onions Make You Cry?

When you chop, slice or cut into an onion, volatile chemicals are released that irritate your eyes and nose. The resulting tears and runny nose are the body’s defensive reaction to this gas. This is a natural reaction and is not harmful, although some people react more strongly to onions than others.

When preparing onions for cooking or for eating raw, most people want to stop themselves from crying. To reduce tear formation you need to dilute or remove the irritant from your immediate surroundings. This can be done by following a few simple tips.

Onions produce an irritant syn-Propanethial-S-oxide. It stimulates the eyes’ lachrymal glands to release tears.

1. Lachrymatory-factor synthase is released into the air as an onion is cut.

2. The synthase enzyme converts the amino acids sulfoxides of the onion into sulfenic acid.

3. The unstable sulfenic acid rearranges itself into syn-Propanethial-S-oxide.

4. Syn-Propanethial-S-oxide gets into the air and comes in contact with our eyes. The lachrymal glands become irritated and produce tears.

— Science Reference Section, Library of Congress

Cool Hands, Chilled Onion, Cold Knife

Heat increases the speed at which onion juices evaporate and become an airborne gas. If you keep all parts of the chopping process cold, then the irritant chemical will take longer to reach your eyes and nose, and be in a lower concentration.

Keep fresh onions in the crisper drawer at the bottom of your fridge. Just before starting to cut the onions, rinse your hands and knife in cold water. Don’t dry them, but slice the vegetables with wet hands. This helps keep the onion juice in liquid form and minimizes gas formation.

Use Fresh Onions and Cut the Root End Last

• The irritant chemical (syn-Propanethial-S-oxide) is produced by onions as a defense against being eaten whilst in the ground. It is concentrated at the root end of the bulb, so leave this part uncut until the very last moment.
• As onions age, they dry out and so the chemical becomes more concentrated. Buy your onions in small quantities (and preferably locally grown) so that they are as fresh as they can be when you use them.
• In general, mild flavored onions contain less syn-Propanethial-S-oxide than the stronger flavored varieties, so opt for these if you know you are hyper-sensitive to slicing onions.

Face Shield or Eye Mask for Those Severely Affected

For most people a combination of a sharp knife, a cool working environment, and a kitchen extract fan, will keep onion tears at bay. However some choose to wear an eye mask or face shield to prevent the irritant from reaching their eyes. A full gas mask (see image below from the First World War) is probably a bit extreme, but there are plenty of face shields on the market that can give the desired protection. Although intended as a protection against coronavirus, they protect against aerosol transmission and so can offer a solution to any gaseous eye irritant.

Some Other (Unproven) Ways to Stop Onion Crying

• Wear a pair of swimming goggles. However, these can mist up and so are not very practical when cooking.
• Keep a piece of bread in your mouth. This seems unlikely to work, but some people swear by it.
• Turn the sliced side of the onion away from you. This is hard, if not impossible to do; the whole aim of dicing is to make every part of the onion a small sliced piece.
• Buy one of the new onion varieties that have been bred specifically to be odorless and not emit irritant chemicals. Unfortunately, these are difficult to find and, so far, do not seem to have been a commercial success.

If all else fails you can buy packs of ready chopped fresh onion. They are a bit pricy if you like a lot of onion in your food, but are worth the cost if you really hate to cry as you chop onions.

This content is accurate and true to the best of the author’s knowledge and is not meant to substitute for formal and individualized advice from a qualified professional.

Beth likes living life in the slow lane. She takes time to enjoy the little things in life.

3 Ways to Make a Squishee (aka Slurpee or Slushy)

1. A squishee can be made using a squishy or slushy dispensing machine. Apu Nahasapeemapetilon has one of these in his store. The machine cools the syrup mix and achieves the required slushy consistency without the need to add extra ice to the mixture. This is due to the wonders of science (see below.)
2. Using the same technique, you can also make a DIY version (see instructions, below).
3. For a quick DIY method, use a branded slushy maker cup (see below).

Quick DIY Method Using a Slushy Maker Cup

If you're short of time, you can make a slushy or squishee at home by buying a branded slushy cup. This is my preferred method for making a crushed ice drink. It’s quicker and more reliable than the true DIY method described below. Keep the slushy cup in the freezer so that the liquid between the inner and outer sleeve is frozen ready for use. When you want to make your beverage, pour fruit juice or soda into the container. Massage it to transfer the coldness into the drink, and hey presto, you have a crushed ice drink in under a minute.

Easy Homemade DIY Squishee "Cube"

If you don’t want to buy a slushy maker, here's how to make your own DIY crushed ice drink.

What You'll Need

• 1 small, strong freezer bag
• 1 teaspoon salt
• Tap water

Method

1. Fill up the freezer bag with tap water. Add the salt to the water.
2. The bag needs to be small enough so that when frozen it will fit inside a drinking cup (or a jug if you are intending to make a larger quantity of squishee).
3. Tie the top of the bag and place it in the freezer.
4. Once the water has frozen solid you are ready to make your slushy drink.
5. Use either freshly squeezed fruit juice (orange or apple juice are ideal), or a store-bought slushy syrup. Fill a drinking cup or glass two thirds full with the juice or syrup.
6. Take the frozen water bag out of the freezer and dunk it into the juice or syrup. Shake the iced “cube” in the juice or syrup to turn them into a crushed ice drink. It may take a couple of minutes, but it does work. Be careful that your dunking is not too enthusiastic as the freezer bag may not withstand vigorous shaking.

Bart Simpson and Apu's Kwik-E-Mart

As fans of The Simpsons TV show know, Apu has an iced drink machine. The Simpsons show is about a dysfunctional middle-class American family. They're an average family, so they have exactly 2.4 children. The family consists of parents Homer and Marge, 10-year old Bart, 8-year old Lisa, and baby Maggie.

Apu Nahasapeemapetilon is the owner of the local Kwik-E Mart, and he has a squishee maker at the front of his store. Bart (the eldest of the Simpson kids), and his pal, Millhouse, love to pester Apu. They enjoy the sugar high they get from a squishee (also known as a squishee or slushy), a type of crushed ice drink similar to an Italian granita ice but with more liquid. Bart’s dream super squishee is made only from syrup and no water. You can see the mind-bending results of drinking one of these in the video below. A normal squishee is diluted with lots of water. The drink is made using either real fruit juice or one of the commercially available syrups.

Bart and Millhouse Go Crazy With a Super Squishee

The Science Bit: How Do You Make a Squishee?

Making a squishee is a practical application of the physics and chemistry you learned at school, but thought you would never use. Water freezes at zero degrees Fahrenheit (32 degrees Celsius). However, if water contains impurities, the temperature at which the liquid freezes is lowered. The foreign particles disrupt the formation of ice crystals, and so it remains liquid for longer; i.e., the impure water will not freeze until its temperature is reduced further (below the normal freezing point for H₂0).

Inside each slushy-making cube (or between the inner and outer walls of a special slushy cup) is therefore not pure water, but water plus something else. For commercial reasons, manufacturers don’t make public what the extra ingredient is, but I would guess it’s something like salt. For safety reasons the added ingredient needs to be something edible in case the walls of the special cube should break and spill.

To make a squishee, the special cube or cup is placed in a freezer. When frozen solid, it is put into a shaker with some soft drink or syrup to be converted into a crushed ice drink. The temperature of the frozen cube or cup is now below the normal freezing point of water. Water is the main constituent of the soda or squash that is being turned into a squishy or slushy. As the shaker is agitated, the cold from the frozen cube is transferred into the soft drink. The cube’s liquid has impurities in it, and this keeps its temperature below that of the beverage liquid into which it has been placed. The liquid of the syrup drink or soda therefore freezes into a crushed ice beverage.

How Do Branded Slushy Makers Work?

Commercial squishy or slushy makers boast they can make any drink into crushed ice without adding ice to the drink. They also do not need to put the drink into a freezer and then crush the resultant ice block in a food blender. Instead, they use a branded frozen cube which when added to the drink causes it to ice up without dilution or the use of a freezer on the drink itself. The manufacturers have used science and turned it into a nice little earner for themselves.

Apu once had the Squishee machine at the Kwik-E-Mart replaced with one for a similar drink called the Smooshie, which came in flavors such as "shopping bag" and "dog fur." Apu made the change after he had a fling with the Squishee syrup deliverywoman, and chose the Smooshie because its deliveryman was an ugly hobo and therefore wouldn't tempt Apu into being unfaithful to Manjula again. The Smooshie did not go over well with Apu's customers, however, and the Squishee quickly returned.

— Simpsons Fandom website

Kwik-E Mart's Squishee Syrup Flavors

Some of the flavors of Apu's Kwik-E Mart's Squishee syrup are listed below. It is said that some of them can cause hallucinations. You have been warned! The many syrups beloved by Bart and his friends include the following.

• Blue
• Red
• Lime Green
• Champagne
• 21-Syrup Salute
• Chinese New Year
• Squish of Death, black in color, and causes spontaneous vomiting. It is so dangerous that it is only sold by Kwik-E-Mart's in Springfield's bad-lands.
• Blue cleaning agent
• Shrek Berry Blast
• Not Very Berry Blast

This content is accurate and true to the best of the author’s knowledge and is not meant to substitute for formal and individualized advice from a qualified professional.

Scientist and author, Beth is also a keen home cook. She enjoys trying new recipes.

Recipe for Traditional English Scones

Scones are quick and easy to prepare. All the items in the recipe are ones that all grocers and supermarket stores stock, and you may already have them in your kitchen cupboards. If you have unexpected visitors, you can impress them with freshly made home-baked scones.

US Standard Measurement vs Imperial and Metric

The quantities in this recipe are given in US standard measurements. To change them into Imperial and metric weights, I use this recipe unit conversion app. It’s really useful as it converts all the common measuring units used in cooking and baking from US to European and British ones.

Ingredients for Plain Sweet Scones

• 1 cup self-rising flour (or use plain flour and 1 teaspoon baking powder)
• Pinch of salt
• ¼ cup butter or margarine
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 2/3 cup milk
• 1 egg, for glazing (or you can use milk instead)

Sweet and Savory Variations

• Fruit scones: Add ½ cup of dried mixed fruit to the plain sweet scone recipe.
• Savory cheese scones: Leave out the sugar and add ½ cup of grated cheddar cheese (or other medium-to-strong-tasting cheese).

Equipment Needed

To make the dough:

• Large mixing bowl
• Electric mixer, or a spatula to blend the mixture
• Pastry board
• 2” round pastry cutter

To bake the scones:

• Baking sheet
• Pastry brush to apply the egg glaze
• Wire cooling rack

Cooking and Preparation Times

• Preparation Time: 10 minutes
• Cooking Time: 10 to 12 minutes
• Oven Temp: 425^o F, 220^o C or Gas Mark 7
• Yield: about 10 scones

Instructions

1. Before you start mixing the ingredients, turn on the oven. Scones need to be put into a hot oven. They rise and cook quickly at the correct temperature. If the oven is too cool when they go in, your scones will not rise properly and they will taste heavy and doughy.
2. Lightly grease the baking sheet and dust with a little flour. This helps prevent the scones from sticking during baking.
3. Put the flour, salt, and baking powder into a large mixing bowl. Add the butter or margarine cut into small pieces about one inch in size. With clean hands, rub the fat into the flour to form “breadcrumbs” using the rubbing-in method.
4. Add the remaining dry ingredients to the mix. These will be the sugar, fruit or cheese depending on which variation of sweet or savory scone you are making.
5. Make a well in the middle of the mixture with the spatula and gradually add the milk blending from the center. Fold the milk into the dry mixture gently so that you don't beat the air out of the dough. Your dough should be firm and not sticky once all the milk has been mixed in.
6. To prevent the dough sticking to the pastry board or your hands, dust a little flour on both. With floured hands, take the ball of dough from the mixing bowl and place it gently onto your board. Don't use a rolling pin to flatten it. Instead shape it by patting (gently!) into a one-inch thick sheet. This will double in height when it is cooked. (Don't make them any thinner or there'll be no room to cut them in half for the traditional fresh cream and jam filling.)
7. Using a 2” diameter pastry cutter, cut scone shapes from your dough. You should be able to get about 10 or 12 scones from this recipe. Put them on the greased baking sheet and give each one an egg glaze. To make the glaze, dip the pastry brush into beaten egg and paint a little on the top of each scone.
8. Put the tray of scones into a preheated oven and bake for 10 minutes. (Check them after 10 minutes to see if they have risen and are golden on top. If not, leave to bake for 2 more minutes.) If you've handled the dough lightly whilst mixing, they will double in height.
9. Place the scones onto the wire rack to cool.

What is the "Rubbing-In Method"?

Rubbing-in is a technique where fat is rubbed into flour to make shortcrust pastry, crumbles and scones. Using your fingertips, rub the flour and butter together until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs.

Your Guide to Making the Perfect English Tea Scone

Some Novel Variations to the Basic Recipe

Each of these is a separate recipe suggestion. They are not intended to all be added to the same batch of scones!

• Use buttermilk in place of pasteurized milk.
• Make a spicy scone by replacing the sugar with treacle or molasses and adding cinnamon and nutmeg.
• Add grated Parmesan cheese and crushed garlic for a tasty savory snack.

How to Pronounce "Scone"

If you visit the UK you will find that scones are eaten not just in England, but also in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. You will hear regional variation in the pronunciation of the word scone. In general, people in the southern parts of England make the o a long sound, so that it rhymes with cone and Joan. Folk in the northern areas of England shorten the o so that it rhymes with con and John.

The Stone of Destiny

Scones are thought to have been so named because of their shape. They were originally baked much flatter and resembled the stone (scone) of destiny upon which ancient Scottish kings were crowned at the Abbey of Scone (near Perth in Scotland.)

Which Goes on First: Cream or Jam?

Scones should be served with clotted cream and home-made strawberry jam. In the UK they make an ideal snack with a cup of tea at teatime (that's about 4 p.m.) Scones are best eaten on the same day as they're baked. They go stale very quickly and never taste as good if eaten the following day.

There's often an argument about whether the jam or the cream should go on first. The English counties of Devon and Cornwall are great rivals in this respect. They both produce rich clotted cream, perfect for putting on scones. In Devon the cream goes on first, but in Cornwall the tradition is to spread the jam on first.

Personally, I put the cream on first and then the jam, mainly for practical reasons, although my mother was from Devon. I find that the cream doesn’t stick very well on top of the jam; jam first makes the cream slither off as I try to eat the scone. But it doesn't bother me if others make the opposite choice.

This content is accurate and true to the best of the author’s knowledge and is not meant to substitute for formal and individualized advice from a qualified professional.

Scientist and author, Beth is also a keen home cook. She enjoys trying new recipes.

How to Make the Best Scrambled Eggs

The key to making fluffy scrambled eggs is to use really fresh ingredients and then serve and eat immediately. Follow the steps below and you too can make perfect scrambled eggs every time.

• Only use fresh eggs.
• Keep eggs cool but not chilled.
• Beat well before cooking.
• Cook over low heat.
• Eat immediately, do not keep warm.

Store Fresh Eggs at Ambient (Room) Temperature

To make the best and fluffiest scrambled eggs, use eggs that are at room temperature. Unless you live in a very warm climate, there's no need to refrigerate them. It’s better to buy a few eggs often and store them at ambient temperature, than to buy them in bulk and refrigerate. I use this egg helter-skelter to store my eggs on the kitchen counter. It keeps them at room temperature, and looks good too.

It’s important that you cook with really fresh eggs. Shop-bought eggs are already at least 24 hours old when they arrive in store. Before buying, check the boxes to find the freshest ones. If you’re lucky enough to live in a rural area, then buying your supplies at the farm gate should mean fresher eggs. Some people keep a couple of pet hens in the backyard to make sure they get really fresh eggs. Of course, if you do this you would need to spend time caring for the chickens, but the wonderful taste of new-laid eggs will compensate you for the additional effort involved.

Quick Recipe

Instructions

1. Beat the Eggs

To make fluffy scrambled eggs whisk the yolk and white together briskly using a fork or hand-whisk. This should be done by hand; there’s no need to use an electric whisk. It will take less than a minute of wrist-whisking action. As you beat briskly with the fork or whisk, raise your arm up and down slightly to trap air into the mixture.

2. Add Milk to the Beaten Eggs

Make sure the milk is as fresh as possible. Semi-skimmed or whole milk work best for this dish. For each person use 2 beaten eggs and 1 tablespoon of milk. Gently stir the milk into the foaming eggs and add a pinch of salt and pepper to taste.

3. Cook the Eggs

Melt a knob of butter in a non-stick pan. With a wooden spoon or non-stick spatula move it around and ensure it covers the whole of the pan before you add the eggs. Keeping the heat on high, pour in the beaten egg mixture. As the eggs cook, gently move the mixture from the center to the sides of the pan. By doing this, you will ensure that all parts of the eggs can reach the hot surface of the pan and cook.

4. Remove From Heat Before Fully Cooked

This is the big secret of successful light and fluffy scrambled eggs. The frying pan must be removed from the heat source before the eggs are fully cooked. The scrambled eggs will continue to cook using the heat retained by the pan, even after you have taken them off the heat. Taking them off the heat early stops the eggs getting overcooked and thus keeps them nice and soft and fluffy.

How to Cook Perfect Fluffy Scrambled Eggs

Eat, Serve, and Enjoy the Perfect Quick Meal

The smell will be so tempting you’ll have no trouble sitting down and eating them immediately. Fluffy scrambled eggs are great on their own or you can eat them with hot buttered toast. For an occasional treat you could add a tablespoon of grated cheese to the egg mixture. This makes them extra tangy and delicious. Bon appétit!

What Makes Eggs Fluffy? Milk Or Water?

Milk is the key ingredient, although a splash of water into the mix does no harm. Milk makes the beaten egg lighter and softer. A little water helps by adding steam which traps air and so fluffs up the batter. Try adding a teaspoonful of water to the mixing bowl after you crack and whisk the eggs. As you cook the scrambles, the water turns to steam and helps create a fluffier end result.

How to Check the Freshness of an Egg

It’s important to cook with really fresh eggs. Store-bought eggs are already at least 24 hours old when they are put on sale. Before buying, check the boxes to find the freshest ones. A fresh egg has a firm yolk and a thick viscous egg white. When you crack your eggs into the mixing bowl, check that the yolk stands strong and proud. It should be the shape of a baseball cut in half. The yolk should be a symmetrical half-spherical shape. When eggs are several days old, the yolk sinks down and the white becomes thinner and runnier.

What Goes Well With Scrambled Eggs?

I like my scrambles served plain on hot buttered white toast without any accompaniments. That makes a great warming breakfast on a cold winter’s day. For a special treat, however, nothing beats scrambled eggs served with thinly sliced oak smoked salmon on a freshly baked bagel.

For my vegetarian friends, I serve the eggs with tasty mushrooms, beefsteak tomatoes, onion rings, and some homemade relish. You can make a great savory Chinese fried rice with scrambled eggs and peas too. Don’t forget my key tip of removing the eggs away from the heat before they are fully cooked. That way you too will become a champion scrambles cook.

How to Stop the White From Separating When Making Scrambled Eggs?

The white separates in cooked scrambled eggs when they've not been whisked enough before cooking. To prevent this happening, take time to properly combine the eggs into a consistent, one color (pale yellow) liquid. Make sure you use a light and flexible wrist action to mix lots of air into your scramble. Done properly, the white and yolk will blend together at the same time as you're adding air to the mixture.

What Makes Scrambled Eggs Fluffy?

The fluffiness happens because lots of air has been incorporated into the beaten egg. Whisking by hand may can seem a bit of an effort, but it's the best way (in my opinion) to get the right amount of air included. An electric whisk may be quick, but the bubbles are large and so the mixture is not as smooth as when you take the time and effort to do the job manually.

This content is accurate and true to the best of the author’s knowledge and is not meant to substitute for formal and individualized advice from a qualified professional.

Scientist and author, Beth is also a keen home cook. She enjoys trying new recipes.

How to Cook Perfect Hard Boiled Eggs

Hard boiled eggs are great for salads and sandwiches, but it can be hard to remove the shell after cooking. So here's the secret of how to make the perfect easy-to-peel hard boiled egg.

1. Don't use eggs straight from the fridge.
2. Do use eggs and water at room temperature.
3. Don't plunge the raw eggs into boiling water.
4. Do use an egg timer to make sure the yolks are set but not overcooked.
5. When the eggs are cooked, remove pan from the heat and plunge cooked eggs straight away into cold water. The shells will now come off easily.

1. Don't Boil Eggs Straight from the Fridge

If you keep eggs cool, there's no need to keep them in the fridge. It's better to buy a few eggs often and keep them at a cool room temperature, than to buy them in bulk and store at a very cold temperature. Many people refrigerate eggs; this means that your eggs become icy-cold all the way through, and will take longer to cook. If you take eggs from the fridge and plunge them immediately into boiling water, the center of the egg is too cold to cook properly. Instead of getting a firm hard-boiled egg (with both white and yolk cooked solid,) you end up with a soft runny center.

The best place to store eggs is in a cool larder. Unfortunately many modern kitchens are too small to have this facility. So you need to plan ahead if you want to make great hard boiled eggs. The evening before you intend to use them, take the eggs out of the fridge, and leave them in a bowl on your worktop. That way they should reach ambient room temperature by the time you want to cook them.

2. Don't Plunge Raw Eggs Into Boiling Water

For eggs to cook properly and evenly, the temperature of both eggs and water should be similar. Don't pre-boil the water before adding it to the egg saucepan. Don't use iced water. Place the (ambient temperature) eggs in a saucepan and cover them with water from the cold faucet which should be cool but not freezing. If you add either boiling water or iced water to the eggs, the shells will crack and the contents will seep into the boiling water. You will end up with a veil of white threads over half-empty boiled eggs.

3. Use an Egg Timer to Prevent Overcooked Yolks

It is easy to put the eggs on the hob to boil … And then forget about them. You may have assumed that overcooking eggs doesn't matter. But it does! Overcooked boiled eggs taste hard and rubbery. Hard boiled eggs take just ten minutes to cook when using eggs and water at room temperature. You can make sure the eggs do not overcook by using an egg timer. I use a Cheeky Chick egg-timer. It changes color when the eggs are done so it's really easy to use.

4. Use Eggs and Water at Room Temperature

Prep time 1 min

Cook time 10 min

Allow 2 eggs per person

5. Remove Pan From Heat and Plunge Cooked Eggs Into Cold Water

If you leave the eggs in the pan after the ten minutes is up, they will continue to cook. To prevent this, you need to act promptly. Fill a second saucepan half full of cold water. Take the eggs out of the boiling water and plunge them into the pan or bowl of cold water. This has the effect of making the white and yolk of the boiled egg contract slightly. The shell itself remains unchanged. It is only the inside of the egg that contracts.

The Shell is Now Easy-Peel

To remove the shell from the freshly boiled eggs, roll them gently on a wooden board. Because the insides are now slightly smaller, the shell separates very easily. This is the key secret to making an easy peeling hard-boiled egg.

How To Cook Boiled Eggs So They Peel Easily

How Long Does It Take to Hard Boil an Egg?

The perfectly timed hard boiled egg is a matter of personal taste. If you follow the instructions given above and start with both eggs and water at room temperature, the whole process from raw egg to firm yolk takes 10 minutes. If you have very large eggs, or are using icy cold water, then it will take a little longer. Or you may prefer a slightly soft or more runny yolk. If so, you need to remove the eggs slightly earlier from the boiling water. The picture below illustrates the difference a minute added to or subtracted from the cooking time makes to the result.

What is the Shelf Life of a Hard Boiled Egg?

The shelf life of hard boiled (cooked) eggs is much less than raw uncooked eggs. Raw and cooked eggs are both perishable items. When stored at a cool temperature, raw eggs remain good for about four weeks. After being hard boiled they should be stored in the fridge and eaten within a week. Buy your eggs as fresh as you can. Choose a store that has a regular turnover of fresh deliveries. Only make them hard boiled if you know the eggs are going to be eaten within a few days.

Does Salt Prevent Eggs From Cracking During Boiling?

No, adding salt or vinegar to the pan water when boiling eggs will not stop them cracking. Cracking occurs because of the temperature difference between a cold egg and boiling water. The best way to prevent cracking is to use eggs that are at room temperature, and cook them in water drawn from the cold fawcett. This means that the water and egg heat up together to reach boiling point, and so the temperature differential is avoided.

What Can You Add to the Water to Make Peeling Easy?

Some people recommend adding a little baking soda (about 1/2 teaspoon or a little less) to the water while boiling. They say it makes it easier to peel the eggs later on. Apparently the pH of the white of very fresh eggs is slightly acidic which causes it to adhere to the shell membrane more tightly. By adding a little bicarb of soda to the cooking water, you are increasing the pH, and so make removing the shells easier.

In reality, unless you keep your own hens, the eggs you buy from a store are already more than a day old, and so the pH level of the white is not an issue.

How Many Eggs a Day is it Safe to Eat?

Eggs are the ultimate convenience food. They come ready wrapped in a biodegradable, recyclable shell. They also taste good and are easy to cook. They are a cheap source of protein, calcium as well as vitamins A and D. The NHS (National Health Service in the UK) says there is no recommended limit on how many eggs a day people should eat. Eggs can be part of a healthy balanced diet, but you should avoid adding salt or fat to them during cooking or at the table.

Try these healthier ways of eating eggs:

• Hard-boiled or poached, with no added salt.
• Scrambled, without butter (which is high in saturated fat.)
• Use a lighter spray fat in the fry-pan; frying eggs increases their fat content by around 50%.

This content is accurate and true to the best of the author’s knowledge and is not meant to substitute for formal and individualized advice from a qualified professional.

Scientist and author, Beth is also a keen home cook. She enjoys trying new recipes.

Best Ways of Shelling and Cracking Walnuts

Most nuts are pretty easy to separate from their shells. However a walnut kernel and its crinkly outer shell often seem impossible to prise apart. Here are some good ways to crack open and shell walnuts, and get the kernel out in one piece. Some are serious and some are (just a little) tongue in cheek. You can make up your own mind which method is the most effective.

7 Ways to Crack Open Raw Walnuts

1. Hinged nutcracker.
2. Screw press nutcracker.
3. Sharp knife blade.
4. Freezing (ice crystals expand).
5. Door hinge desperado.
6. Crushing machine.
7. The hammer blow.

1. Use a Hinged or Spring-Loaded Nutcracker

A simple nutcracker is made from two pieces of metal or wood joined by a hinge. You put the nut near the hinge and grip hard. Your success at cracking a nut depends upon your personal strength. For some people this simple nutcracker is enough, but I'm not strong enough for it to work for me. An update on this classic design has a spring-loaded hinge. I like the Anwenk Heavy Duty nutcracker as it's perfect for my weak hand-grip strength. It makes shelling walnuts easy-peasy and means everyone in the family (including me) can take their turn at cracking nuts at Christmas.

2. Screw Motion or Screw Press Nutcracker

Many people need a little help with applying the pressure needed to crack walnut shells easily. This is where the screw motion or screw press nutcracker comes to the rescue. This ingenious device dates back hundreds if not thousands of years. By using a screw motion, pressure is applied onto the shell of the nut without the user having a strong hand grip themselves. My favorite is this stainless steel black walnut nutcracker. The amount of pressure used to crack the hull can be carefully regulated. This means that as soon as the walnut’s shell cracks, pressure on it can be stopped. The kernel can then be removed in one piece rather than in fragments.

Screw type nutcrackers are usually made of either wood (known as treen), or of metal (often stainless steel). There are also many examples of these type of nutcrackers made in the shape of a person as tourist souvenirs.

3. Use a Sharp Knife to Open Walnuts

If you have a steady hand (and there are no small children nearby) you could use a sharp knife to open the walnut and get the kernel out in one piece. The video below demonstrates this method. The tip of the knife is placed into the seam or hinge of the walnut. Once inserted, the knife is twisted to force open the seam. If done correctly, the shell of the walnut will split open. Please take care if you use this method, as it's easy for a knife to slip and cause injury.

How to Shell a Walnut With a Pointed Knife

4. Freezing Method Works for Quantity

Using a freezer to crack open walnuts relies on the chemistry of water changing from a liquid into a solid. Put the walnuts into a freezer bag and seal. Place the sealed bag into the freezer for several hours. The water present in the nuts and their shells freezes. Water expands as it freezes and so the shells will split open.

This method works well for walnuts intend using for baking or cooking. This is because the expansion and contraction of the water within the nuts causes the kernels to become slightly soft and flabby tasting. If you use this method and intend eating the walnuts as a snack, you will need to roast or cook them before eating.

5. Rough and Ready Method Using a Door Hinge

If all else fails you can use a door hinge. With this rough and ready method the walnut kernel is undamaged (although I cannot guarantee that the doorjamb will remain unmarked!)

• Find a suitable door with a hinge in good condition.
• With the door open, place the walnut in the hinge between the door jamb and the door.
• Close the door so that the hinge presses tight onto the nut. You will hear a cracking sound as the shell splinters.
• Carefully pick out the kernel from among the debris (and eat).

6. Separating Walnuts from their Hulls in Quantity

If you grow and pick your own walnuts, you may want to de-hull a lot of nuts quickly and cheaply. One way to do this is by placing the crop in a wire cage, and then smashing the walnuts together using water and a pressure hose. When the weather is hot, this is a fun way to complete your harvest. However this often results in the nuts being reduced to a mess of shell and kernel that need to be sieved apart again. The valuable part is the walnut kernel, the broken shells can be used as fuel in a wood-burning stove.

7. Cracking Walnuts With a Hammer Blow

Have you heard the expression "taking a sledge-hammer to crack a nut"? It literally means using disproportionate force to achieve a simple aim.

• Take a hammer.
• Lift.
• Strike the walnut.

Unfortunately, the result is that the nut is smashed along with the shell. Unless you have the patience of Job and pick out the fragments of edible kernel from amongst the broken shell pieces, this is not a good method. However, if you are of a gentle and patient disposition, it is possible to gently tap the walnut with a small hammer and by tapping (not hitting) the shell, can achieve good results.

Is it OK to Roast Walnuts in Their Shell?

I like to eat walnuts raw even though their shells are awkward to remove. Some people prefer to eat them roasted as this makes de-husking less of an issue. You can roast walnuts in the oven at 170 degrees Fahrenheit for 15 to 20 minutes. Spread them out on baking sheets. If they're too close together they will take longer to cook. Allow the nuts to cool before attempting to remove the shells. The roasted husk is brittle and should be easier to crack than that of an unroasted nut. Use a food pick to help you prise every last piece of the kernel away from the shell.

Can You Crack a Walnut Using Just Your Bare Hands?

Yes, some people can, but I've never been able to. N.B. This method is not recommended. Cracking walnuts with your bare hands can hurt like hell. To succeed you'll need strong hands, a grip like steel, and a tough-as-leather thick skin.

Put two nuts in the palm of one hand. Close your fingers around the walnuts. Squeeze hard. Use your other hand around the first to increase the pressure. With a great deal of effort and force, the nuts will crack open.

Why Do Some People Soak Walnut Kernels Before Eating?

I prefer to eat my walnuts straight after removing the outer shell. However, fresh nuts can be tough to chew if you wear dentures or have other dental problems. Soaking them in water for a few hours can help to soften them without losing their nutritious value.

How To Shell and Open Every Type of Nut

This content is accurate and true to the best of the author’s knowledge and is not meant to substitute for formal and individualized advice from a qualified professional.