6 Mesmerising Chopping Hacks to Transform Your Food Prep

You will need a sharp knife for many of these, so caution is advised.

Posted on

23 January 2022

6 Mesmerising Chopping Hacks to Transform Your Food Prep

All Credits: PA

There’s a reason why food hacks instantly go viral – we’re all desperate for anything that will cut down the boring bits of cooking.

While perfecting the flavours in your favourite dish might be fun, peeling what seems like a zillion cloves of garlic is time consuming and dull.

The Internet is full of handy tips and tricks for making chopping up fruit and veg that much easier, but some are definitely more effective than others. Here are some of our top picks for chopping hacks – either because they actually work or are just really soothing to watch.

1. Pomegranates

Few things more frustrating than trying to get the seeds out of a pomegranate. You either end up with loads of white pith or you end up getting the red juice everywhere. That’s probably why this hack has gone viral, showing how to easily segment a pomegranate and get all the seeds out, with minimal pith in sight.

How to effectively slice a pomegranate pic.twitter.com/WdeQwvqeMF

— Engineering (@engineeringvids) October 19, 2019

Someone even posted that they tried out the trick and can confirm that yes, it does work.

So glad I gave this a try. Literally the most effective way I have *ever* gotten pom arils. It’s usually 40 minutes of me staining my hands, counter, and clothes. pic.twitter.com/dY6jnUzR8n

— Caresse (@hightower_rc) October 22, 2019

2. Pineapples

Tried out the #pineapplehack for myself and can confirm that it works, but you need quite a ripe pineapple, and consider rolling it across the bench first to loosen the fibres. pic.twitter.com/YgdC3v5GRR

— Alice Zaslavsky (@aliceinframes) March 9, 2019

This is one of the more dubious-looking tips that has gone viral, because apparently all you need to do is cut off the end of a pineapple and twist out each segment to get out the flesh. Apparently it does work, but your pineapple will need to be quite ripe – and twisting each individual part does seem like it would take a fair amount of time.

For those wondering how to start the #pineapplehack, twisting off the top helps kickstart the process (it also tells you that the pineapple is ripe enough), and then if need be, hack into it until you get to the bigger fruitlets/segments pic.twitter.com/fAi2Ib77Ne

— Alice Zaslavsky (@aliceinframes) March 9, 2019

3. Tomatoes

If you want to save a lot of time, this hack recommends you use two plates to chop a bunch of cherry tomatoes in half at once. Just be careful not to press down too hard on the plates, as you’ll risk squishing all the juice out of your tomatoes.

4. Garlic

As someone who makes a lot of Korean food, this is the best method for getting garlic peeled!
pic.twitter.com/14GGJDQhRj

— (@VPestilenZ) June 17, 2019

Chopping garlic is fiddly, time-consuming and your fingers end up smelling for the rest of the day. So this hack for using a sharp knife to remove the individual cloves was met with delight, with even Chrissy Teigen retweeting her shock and awe at the video.

However, it’s a good reminder to be wary of what you see on the Internet, because a lot of people tried it out and it wasn’t actually as easy as it looks. In fact, New Yorker writer Helen Rosner even ended up in the emergency room getting stitches.

Important addendum: I tried to do it again and am currently at urgent care getting stitches lmao

— Helen Rosner (@hels) June 19, 2019

5. Herbs

Picking herbs off the stalks is annoying and you inevitably don’t get all the leaves you want. However, there’s a hack for that. If the herb has a woody stem – like thyme – feed the stalk through a sieve and pull it through the other side. You can do the same with other herbs like basil in colanders, and in both scenarios you should get the leaves magically picked off.

6. Mangoes

y'all, we been eating mangoes wrong pic.twitter.com/bY9PNXm6L8

— The Chi (@nefertittie__) March 24, 2019

There are various viral tricks for getting all of the flesh out of a mango in the easiest way possible. One involves slicing the mango in half and twisting the stone out, and the other uses a glass to scoop out the flesh. We’re not sure how effective they are, but they look satisfying – you definitely need a pretty soft mango to attempt them.