Now, to perform this trick, we’re going to have to suspend our sense of reality for a moment and pretend that, from time to time, we may have a half-drunk bottle of wine lolling about on the kitchen bench or in the back of the fridge.
I know, I know, what with wine condoms and the high quality of wine in Australia, spoiled wine is a rarity in our household, too. But, if we were to crack open a bottle and be greeted with the aromas of burnt rubber or rotten egg, then this informative video from the American Chemical Society might well just save your sip.
Without getting too technical, this Chemistry Life Hack explains that by dropping a clean copper coin into the glass of wine, a reaction takes place whereby the thiol compounds (responsible for those nasty sulphuric smells) are converted into odourless copper sulphide crystals, effectively nixing any offensive aromas.
And yes, we know that copper coins went out of circulation in Australia back in the 1990s, so if you don’t have a one or two cent piece in your coin collection, never fear: apparently, a silver spoon works just as well. Note that it calls for silver, not stainless steel, so you may have to raid your nanna’s tea set for the real deal. Either way, it’s a small price to pay for salvaged wine.
This article originally appeared on Foodiful.