As Britain basks in a summer scorcher, beachgoers and park revellers are taking advantage of the relentless sunshine to indulge in idyllic picnics. However, not everyone comes prepared with a cooling strategy for their beverages.
Fear not, a refreshing glass of wine or a cool drink under the sun needn’t be a pipedream. A brilliant Instagram tip has surfaced from the account Cocktails, showcasing how a budget-friendly hack using only ice, salt, and a mere 20 minutes can chill your drinks without the necessity of a fridge.
The savvy guide explains the method: “Add ice to a bucket, make a hole for the bottle and place your wine in there. Add salt around the ice, cover with more ice, top off with a little more salt and wait.”
With these steps, your thirst-quenching beverage will soon reach the perfect temperature.
But what if you’re bucketless? One innovative social media user came up with the ultimate makeshift cooler. “Buy a bag of ice from the shop and a bag for life and do it in that. Easy!” they proposed in the comments.
The post had its sceptics, preferring the trusty confines of their kitchen appliances. Yet when faced with the great outdoors, another chimed in with a reminder of reality: “To everyone mentioning ‘put it in freezer’, you don’t always have access to a freezer if you are out and about.” Now even the most ill-equipped picnickers can raise a chilled glass to those summer vibes.
Some users were baffled by why you’d sprinkle salt over ice to get a bottle chilled swifter. But let’s unravel the mystery with a dash of science! Sprinkling salt into ice water depresses the water’s freezing point, permitting the ice to thaw below its usual temperature, enabling the water to get chilly at an accelerated pace.
This trick can cool your wine approximately one-third quicker than a regular ice-water bath, in some cases achieving the desired chillness in just five minutes.
Crowds were wowed by this savvy tip, flocking to leave their thoughts on the video. A commenter piped up: “When you are at a hotel or out and about, you don’t have access to a freezer, this is the next best thing.”
