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Can we talk about the old guy at the farmers market who taught me to stir my kraut with a specific stick?

He pulled a hickory branch from his truck, handed it to me, and said "this wood keeps the bad spirits out of the jar" and now I can't use anything else even though my wife thinks I'm nuts, has anyone else had a weird tool or ritual that actually worked for them?
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3 Comments
paige86
paige8622d ago
Is it possible the stick really is doing something? Not spirits obviously, but like different wood releases different tannins or keeps oxygenation at a certain level? I'm not saying you're wrong, I just think there might be a more practical reason it works better than a metal spoon.
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bettyfox
bettyfox22d ago
Oh man, I gotta disagree a bit here. Tannins are in tea and wine, not really in a stirring stick that's just sitting in liquid for a few seconds. And oxygenation from a wooden spoon versus metal? The surface area is way too small to make a difference either way. I think people just like the ritual of using a wooden spoon, it feels more natural and old fashioned. But at the end of the day, it's still just a stick moving liquid around, right?
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morgan.logan
morgan.logan22d agoTop Commenter
@bettyfox you're probably right about the science but man, there's something about that stick. My grandpa had this beat-up wooden spoon he used for chili for like 40 years, swore it made it taste better. I tried it once and honestly the chili was just chili but he was HAPPY using it, you know? Sometimes the ritual matters more than the result.
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