Most wooden spoons and ladles are made from natural wood, so they do not have a negative impact on human health. Therefore, many families use them in cooking.
Not only for stirring and holding food, they also have a special function that makes cooking much easier and safer, just place a wooden spoon horizontally on a boiling pot?
Why should you put a wooden spoon horizontally on a boiling pot?
This little tip will help you be more proactive when encountering urgent boiling water situations, minimizing the occurrence of water overflowing from the pot.
When boiling water, especially bone broth, crab soup, soy milk or even boiling water…, just a little carelessness and you will have to spend a lot of effort to clean the kitchen because the water overflows, spilling onto the stove. Not to mention, food spilling is also wasteful.
This phenomenon occurs because there is always a certain amount of air dissolved in the water. When you cook something and reach the boiling point, the increasing temperature will reduce the solubility of air and the hot water will quickly convert from liquid to gas.
The bubbles formed when boiling water are actually water vapor (gas) that forms directly within the liquid. The higher the temperature, the more gas escapes, clinging to the pot and rising to the surface of the water.
The longer the boiling time, the more the foam bubbles increase on the surface until they overflow. That’s why you should put a wooden spoon horizontally on a boiling pot.
At this point, to prevent the food in the pot from overflowing, place a wooden spoon on top. If the liquid in the pot starts to boil too high, the wooden spoon will prevent them from spilling out. The physical presence of the spoon will break the surface of the bubbles, preventing them from overflowing out of the pot.
Why should you put a wooden spoon horizontally on a boiling pot? It will help you avoid the situation of water overflowing and dirtying the kitchen surface. (Photo: AdobeStock)
Fundamentally, the bubbles will burst when they encounter something hydrophobic (water-repellent) and a wooden spoon is certainly suitable for breaking that layer of bubbles.
In addition, wood is a poor conductor of heat and will only work for a limited amount of time. Therefore, when in contact with the bubbles of water at 100 degrees Celsius, the low temperature of the spoon will immediately condense the vapor into water droplets, preventing it from continuing to overflow.
This is completely contrary to the reaction when using a metal spoon. Metal is a very good conductor of heat. When placed in a pot, it will start to heat up – sometimes even hotter than the water in the pot. At that time, the water in contact with the smooth, hot surface of the metal spoon will quickly surpass the metal barrier and rapidly overflow.
However, you should note that if the water overflows multiple times, it will wet the wooden spoon, making it hot and gradually losing its effectiveness. Therefore, after a certain period of time, you should return to turn off the stove instead of relying entirely on the blocking effect of the wooden spoon. The longer the water boils, the bubbles will continue to form and the pot will boil again and then overflow.
Note: To make the best use of this trick, when placing a wooden spoon horizontally on a boiling pot, you should choose a large-sized spoon. Generally, this trick applies to all cooking cases where water and foam easily overflow from the mouth of the pot. If you need to go out for a short time, you can apply this small tip.
According to VTC News
