When Kourtney Kardashian shares information about cooking, eating well and feeling good, a lot of people pay attention.
The reality star, mom-of-three and trendy food enthusiast recently created a lifestyle site called Poosh, which grants fans easy access to Kardashian's secrets for eating well in the kitchen and living well around the home. This week, Kardashian (along with her chef pal Sara Motamedi) divulged a list of 12 hacks that supposedly make common food storage issues and cooking woes a thing of the past.
While some of the tips she shared are fairly well-known, others (like Kardashian's secret to chopping onions without crying) seemed slightly suspicious to some on social media.
To better navigate through Kardashian's favorite kitchen shortcuts, TODAY Food reached out to chef Palak Patel at the Institute of Culinary Education (ICE) in New York City.
Palek took a closer look at six of the hacks and divulged which home cooks should probably start using ... and which should be left alone.
Chef-approved Kardashian hacks
1. Only unripe avocados in the store? Place your unripe avocados into a paper bag and they will be ripe in no time.
"This is true," Palek said about how to ripen avocados more quickly. "You should put your avocados into dark, cool place[s]."
Palek also advised putting the stone fruit into a cupboard or leaving it in the oven (not turned on) overnight to speed up the ripening process in the event of a guac emergency.
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2. Place store-bought herbs into a glass cup filled with water. This will maintain the herbs’ ripeness.
Palek agreed with Kardashian's tip on preserving herbs and keeping them fresher longer.
"You can also place herbs on to a damp paper towel, roll them up and place them into an airtight container," Palek told TODAY.
3. To prolong the life of lettuce or edible greens, place the bundle in a moist paper towel inside a glass container in your fridge.
"This is spot on," Palek agreed. "You can also take the leaves out and place damp paper towels in between them individually."
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Think twice before following these tips
4. Paper-thin veggies? Use a vegetable peeler to make them salad worthy and Instagram ready.
While Palek said a peeler works well on harder veggies like zucchini and carrots, this trick might be too tricky with others. For those really looking to create a Kardashian-approved salad dish, use a mandoline slicer — it will shave all types of produce and since that's what it's designed to do, there's less of a risk of injuring yourself while making food just for the gram.
5. The best place to keep garlic is in the garage, where it’s dark and cool.
"I would definitely say no to this on a hygiene [and] cleanliness level," Palek said. He added that garages might be cold and dark, but they also have gaseous fumes, dust, dirt and other things you really wouldn't want to ingest.
Palek advised putting garlic in the cupboard as a much simpler, safer way to help it stay fresher longer.
6. Keep onions in the refrigerator. This will help reduce tears while cutting the onion.
Just when there was a ray of hope for teary eyed-onion lovers everywhere, Palek shot this tip down. A cold onion will just as easily cause crying, said the chef, since all onions (hot or cold) contain an eye-irritating enzyme (propanethial-S-oxide) that's activated when the onion is cut.
Palek said it's pretty much impossible to avoid crying while chopping an onion, although some people are just naturally more sensitive to the fumes.
Don't lose all hope just yet, though, there is still a great way to chop an onion (even if it does make you weep). Ina Garten recommends cutting them in half, peeling them, and leaving the root end intact before slicing, chopping or mincing. Not only does it keep the chopped-up bits neater, but your eyes will have less exposure to the pungent root.
Check out the full list of Kardashian's favorite hacks "everyone should know" when it comes to food.
