Okay, I just got off the phone with my good friend, and we were having a very heated debate over Reynolds Wrap Aluminum Foil.  It started as a simple conversation about whether “aluminum foil” is a brand or just a product, and then it took a spin for the worse as our debate turned to the question whether to cook shiny side up or down?

Well what do you think?  She believed, and was taught, that the shiny side should touch the food (shiny side up).  I had always thought it doesn’t really matter.  After a little Google research, I found the answer as well as the reason why one side is shiny and one side is matte.  Get this:  during the packaging process the foil is passed through a rolling mill.  The side coming in contact with the mill’s highly polished and hot steel rollers becomes shiny.  The other side, not coming in contact with the heavy rollers, comes out with a matte finish.  And regarding the cooking side, it doesn’t  matter – I win!

I should mention there is one exception.  If you buy the new nonstick version of Reynolds Wrap you must place the food on the dull side, which contains the nonstick foil treatment.  Other than that, you are free to use both sides of your foil equally.  What a relief!

Some fun aluminum foil household tricks:

• Place a ball of foil in your dryer to prevent static in your clothing.
• Cut through folded layers of foil to sharpen scissors.
• Use a wad of foil to scrub hard-to-clean surfaces like your grill and dirty pans.
• Place a piece of foil between your stacked DVD player and television set if your picture is fuzzy.
• Make a custom bake pan:  place two layers together and make custom mold of any shape – maybe your favorite teddy bear.

Easy!  And just in case you wanna see more…