Everyone loves a hot, home-cooked meal prepared with love. But most people don’t see the blood sweat and tears that go into preparing delicious family meals. Well, maybe not blood and tears but we’d be willing to bet that you’ve sweat over a hot stove in your time.
No one likes to sweat like a pig before sitting down for a meal. It’s uncomfortable and the heat can put you in a bad mood. Not to mention the fact that no one wants sweat in their food. The good news is that there are a lot of viable ways to avoid sweating in the kitchen.
In the following article we are going to be sharing with you some of the best tips we have ever heard and ones that we have discovered ourselves that work to keep cool in the kitchen.
Small Towels in the Freezer
Not everyone has a window in their kitchen. Not everyone has good hood fans that will suck heated steam right out of the kitchen. If this sounds like your kitchen you may want to try this little trick that is often used in Asian kitchens.
What you do is place a few small towels (think a wash rag, dish towel or hand towel) in the freezer an hour or to before you plan to cook. When the time comes to prepare a meal, simply wrap the cooled towel around your neck to keep your whole body temperature down.
Why does this work? There is actually solid science behind this trick. If you keep key areas of your body where veins are close to the surface cool, it will significantly lower the temperature of the blood.
Your neck is one area where major veins run right up against the skin so a cool towel on the neck will essentially help pump cooler blood all throughout your body!
Take your Jewelry Off
This is another tip that is steeped in scientific fact. If you wear jewelry when you cook, you have probably found that you sweat more than usual. That’s because jewelry (especially real gold, silver and other metals) conducts heat very well.
When the jewelry on your body gets heated by the stove, oven or just in a warm kitchen, that heat will transfer directly to your body, causing you to sweat. Of course, a simple fix for this would be to simply take your jewelry off before you begin cooking.
Have your Vents Cleaned
If you do have a decent range hood and find that it is not performing as efficiently as it used to, it probably needs a vent cleaning. The steam, food debris and other contestants can clog the range hood vent and make it hard to dispel hot steam and air from your kitchen.
Having it cleaned regularly will not only keep the temperature down in your kitchen and keep you from sweating so much; it will also preserve the life of your range hood fan.
Keep Hydrated
This is a simple tip but we included it for a few reasons:
- Anyone can do it. You don’t need a range hood or fans to benefit.
- It really is effective for keeping body temperature down and,
- It’s just good, healthy practice.
Try simply keeping a tall glass of ice water handy as you cook or keeping some ice water in an insulated thermos. There is science behind this tip as well. Remember that to avoid sweating, you need to keep your core body temperature down and drinking cold water will allow you to keep your body temperature down by as much as 50%.
Whenever you start to feel overwhelmed by the heat in the kitchen, try simply taking a long sip from a cold glass of water and see if that doesn’t stop the sweats.
Draw the Curtains
If you do have windows in or around your kitchen, you can help keep it cool by drawing the blinds and curtains when you cook. While this may eliminate some natural light while you cook, you can always just turn a light on – it’s better than sweating profusely while you cook.
Parting Tips
Of course, make sure to open windows when you can, turn on fans and wear light, breathable clothes when you cook. Remember that the trick is to keep your body temperature down so always be mindful of how you feel in the kitchen and you may even come up with some tips of your own!
