Myths About Wine

Hosts Nadia and Tali test common household myths about wine including stain removal and the substitution of juice in recipes that call for wine.

Tali: Can you use apple juice instead of white wine to cook? Nadia: And can you use white wine to get out a red wine stain? Will that work? Tali: We will define the truth. Nadia: And let you know if you should --. Tali: Try this at home. Nadia: Well, this is going to be my favorite episode ever! Tali: You got that right. Nadia: Apparently the oldest wine came from Iran. Tali: Then the Chinese discovered it on their own a few thousand years later. Nadia: Must have been a boring few thousand years. Tali: That's for sure. Nadia: Well, it's time to get tipsy. The world's oldest bottle of wine was found in a roman sarcophagus and dates back to 325 AD. The contents were still preserved when it was discovered over 1500 years later. Tali: I love to cook and many of the recipes I enjoy the most call for wine. but sometimes I run out. A friend of mine recently told me that you could substitute unsweetened apple juice for white wine in a recipe. While I am really skeptical, I decided I would try it out. I am going to make my version of chicken picatta and cook one piece of chicken in the white wine sauce like I normally do, and then the other piece of chicken using apple juice. Then we are going to let Nadia taste them both and see if she can tell the difference. Okay, let's see if you can taste the difference. Nadia: Well, I think I can say with certainty that the first one was the apple juice because it was much sweeter than the second one. And I am sorry to say that there is a difference but it's nominal. You know, like they still tasted really good, both of them. Tali: Well she was right; the first piece of chicken is the one that I cooked in the apple juice. But even though she could tell the difference, they both tasted great. So while I wasn't sure at first, this is definitely a tip I am going to use again. If you have left over wine, pour it into a ice cube tray and stick it in the freezer, then next time you have a recipe that calls for some wine, pop out a couple of cubes and you are ready to go. Nadia: Sometimes parties can get a little wild and dealing with the aftermath can be a bit daunting. Such as red wine stains. Now I have heard that you can pour white wine on a red wine stain and that will somehow get it out. I am really skeptical, so we are going to see. Well, now I have a red wine stain and a white wine stain, I had my suspicions and they were confirmed. you can't get red wine out of a shirt with white wine so you are better off saving your wine and your time and not using this tip at all. Nadia: Alright, alright. Tali: I think we are done here. Nadia: And we didn't even get a chance to talk about all the cool things you can do with wine bottles and corks. Tali: Hey, but that's alright we can't complain we got to drink on the job. Nadia: And that's something you can always try at home.