Tip-sy Tuesday: Aluminum Foil

Here's a handy little tip...well maybe not a tip actually, more like a useful bit of information about aluminum foil. I read this for the first time the other day and thought 'well, I've always wondered about that' so I'm sharing with you in case you've also wondered. With the big ol' turkey dinner day a couple days away you'll probably be using a lot of aluminum foil and now you don't have to waste any time deciding which side of the foil to use. 

I'm sure you've noticed that aluminum foil has a different finish on each side (if you've noticed but don't care you might as well stop reading this because it doesn't matter to you... looking at you sister), one side is shiny and the other dull. What is the reason - is the shiny side the top side and the dull side goes against the food? Other way around? Simple answer - took me long enough to get to the point - it doesn't matter which side you use, the performance of the foil is the same on both sides. The sides are different only because of how they produce it, there isn't a coating on it.  I wasn't going to explain the milling process because I don't care hahah,  but someone might find this interesting so...

In the factory, the sheets of foil are produced using a process called milling, which heats and stretches the aluminum into the thin layers we buy in-store. They mill two layers in contact with each other at the same time, because if they didn't the foil would break during the milling process. Where the foil is in contact with another layer, that's the dull side. The shiny side is the side milled without being in contact with another sheet of metal. 

I googled for a funny aluminum foil picture to add to this post (cuz just words are boring!) but, surprisingly, there aren't any. I did come across a bunch of things you can do with foil that isn't about wrapping around food tho:

1. if your sponge isn't enough to clean set-in grease and stubborn food from pans, use a wad of foil as a scrubber. This also works to clean the grill.

2. fold a piece of aluminum foil several times, make a few cuts with your scissors to sharpen and clean them. 

3. you'll have crisper celery if you wrap it in foil before putting it in the fridge. 

4. use foil to wrap a present. 

5. crinkle up a big piece of foil to use as a photography background. 

11.26.18: Miss Lori's Christmas wreath

11.26.17: birds on a wire artwork

11.26.16: mulled cider