A man has shared his clever ice cube hack to stop pasta water from boiling over – and it’s had a huge reaction online with some describing it as “life-changing”
A savvy man has left the internet in a tizzy with his nifty trick to prevent boiling pasta water from overflowing.
It’s a situation we’ve all faced – one second you’re watching the pot, the next, you’re scrambling to contain a foamy watery mess. Sure, dialling down the heat might save the day, but imagine being able to keep the flame cranked up while avoiding disaster. Enter one man and his game-changing ice cube technique – a stunner that TikTok users are deeming essential and can’t wait to try themselves.
The overjoyed @Lifehacks user, whose clip snagged a jaw-dropping five million eyeballs, exclaimed: “Mind blown. I didn’t believe it, so I had to try it myself! ” In the viral moment, just as the water threatens to breach the rim, an ice cube is tossed in, instantly calming the boil and keeping everything neatly in the pan. The comments section exploded, with many expressing amazement while others maintained simply turning down the heat does the trick.
A commenter remarked: “That’s a cool hack! Great video.” An alternative approach was suggested by another who said: “I pour a bit of cold water in when it’s ready to boil over.” Another revealed plans to adopt the tip, chiming in: “Oh wow I’m gonna use this because Almost every time I have an overspill. Thank you.”
Additionally, somebody else shared a different fix: “You can also lay a wooden spoon across the top of the pot and it won’t boil over.” And yet another person recounted a tale of teaching their 74 year old mum the wooden spoon method, leaving her utterly gobsmacked.
One baffled person shared: “Doesn’t everyone know that cooling down boiling water stops it from boiling over!” While another chimed in with a simple solution: “Just turn the heat down?”. The ice cube trick to prevent pots from boiling over might seem like magic, but there’s solid science behind it.
According to physics.stackexchange.com: “When you put a pot of water on the stove and turn the burner on, the heat source of the stove gets hot relatively fast, but the water takes a while to boil. For multiple reasons, it takes a while for the water to heat up, or in other words for the heat of the burner to be transferred throughout the pot of water.”
It explains further:, “When you add the ice cube to the boiling water, you very quickly cool off the boiling water which will cause the water to stop boiling. It will then take some time for the heat from the burner to heat the water back up to boiling.”
