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Have you ever really thought about how you open a bag of chips? Never? Well, then you’ve been serving your favorite snacks wrong all along. At snack time our brains often click to autopilot, and we tear open the bag from the top without a second thought. But the best way to make sure the last bite is as good as the first is to gently shake the bag before opening. Here’s why.
Why You Should Shake Your Bag of Snacks Before Opening
Every sack of snacks has the same problem. Bags of chips (and popcorn, and pretzels) are auto-filled, then often filled with nitrogen gas before sealing to keep the snacks fresh, and provide a cushion against crushing during shipping and handling. As the bags of chips make their way from the factory floor to your pantry, broken chips and heavier pieces of snack mixes make their way to the bottom of the bag, thanks to our good friend, gravity.
It all started when I opened a bag of Cretor’s Cheese & Caramel Popcorn, and all I saw were cheese-covered kernels. The heavier caramel-coated pieces had settled to the bottom. I closed the bag and gave the snack a shake until the sweet and salty snack was evenly mixed. It wasn’t long before I started noticing other foods that would taste better after being tossed around. I realized that the raisins in my breakfast cereal and the pumpernickel crackers in a bag of Chex Mix all cluster at the bottom of the bag, too. Don’t settle for snacks that have separated! Simply give the bags a shake before digging in.
Buy it: Cretor’s Cheese & Caramel Popcorn, $19.74 for 6 (7.5-ounce) bags
Got a hot snack tip to share? Tell us about it in the comments below.
This post originally appeared on The Kitchn. See it there: I Just Learned How to Properly Open a Bag of Chips and I’m in Disbelief
