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Food Flossing: 5 Clever Dental Floss Hacks for Your Kitchen

Mar 11, 2014 11:38 PM

Sep 22, 2015 04:22 PM

Slice of red velvet cake with white frosting and sprinkles on a wooden cutting board.

From emergency thread to muting an annoying drippy faucet, dental floss can do all kinds of things around the house. But it's also a great tool for a few cooking tasks. In some cases, it actually works better than the intended tool for the job. Here are 4 ways you can use dental floss in the kitchen.

#1. Cut Cakes, Soft Cheeses, & More

A lot of times, unflavored dental floss is actually better than a knife for cutting cakes, doughs, and soft cheeses. The floss cuts in a perfectly straight line and makes the job a lot less messy.

You can use floss to cut a cake into slices.

Or horizontally to split a layer in half.

For soft cheeses or log-shaped cookie and cinnamon roll doughs, wrap a piece of floss around it and pull tight to cut into even slices.

Dough being rolled with a rolling pin and string.

Cinnamon roll dough spiraled on a wooden surface, with a slice cut from the roll.

You can even use it to split a burrito if you need to.

#2. Use in Place of Kitchen Twine

Next time you need to truss a chicken or tie up a roast, but don't have any kitchen twine, use dental floss instead. Just make sure you're using unflavored and unwaxed since it's going in the oven.

Stuffed and tied meat roast with greens on a cutting board.

#3. Remove Cookies from Baking Trays

Slide a piece of floss under your cookies to lift them right off the baking sheet. Compared to using a spatula, you're less likely to break them or get crumbs everywhere.

Freshly baked chocolate chip cookies on a baking tray.

#4. Unstick Dough from Countertops

There are few things more infuriating than rolling out a perfectly even pie crust only to have it stick to the counter. Instead of trying to pull it off or use a spatula, use unflavored dental floss to unstick it.

Rolling pin and measuring tape on a floured surface.

#5. Dry Herbs & Peppers

If you grow or regrow your own herbs, you can air-dry some of them by hanging them with dental floss. It's best with low-moisture herbs like bay, cilantro, dill, rosemary, thyme, and oregano. Floss is also perfect for stringing peppers.

Know of any other clever kitchen tricks using dental floss? Share with us in the comments.

Cookies on tray image via Shutterstock, Cut cake via Brit + Co, Cinnamon Rolls via Crunchy Rock, Stuff steak via Jessica's Gluten Dairy Free Kitchen

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