Baby Carrots Are The Strange But Effective Solution To Missing Wine Corks
Let's set the scene: You're going on a four-day fiesta into the wilderness and you've popped open a bottle of good Cabernet an hour ago. Fast-forward to now; everyone's nice and full after eating the best dinner roasted over a campfire, you're looking around for the cork to stop the bottle and save the leftover wine, and oops — it's gone. You're definitely not keen on drinking flat and sad wine the day after, but chucking out the wine into a nearby bush would feel like a waste. So, what's the plan? Well, if you have a couple of baby carrots nearby as leftovers from a beef stew, you can stuff them into the bottle's mouth and call it a day.
It sounds strange (and looks even stranger when an expensive bottle of wine rocks a carrot-y mohawk), but trust us, it gets the job done. As long as your baby carrot is big enough to plug the bottle's opening snugly, you're golden. Sure, you might have to sift through a few carrots to find the perfect fit, but it's not so bad for an emergency cork stopper, hey?
Other emergency corking options
But wait, you don't have to reach for the carrots yet! You can consider other options first before getting there. As long as you don't upturn the bottle, anything that makes a tight fit with the bottle's mouth and prevents air from getting inside and spoiling the wine will do the trick.
If you've got aluminum foil handy, simply cut out a small piece and roll it into a tight ball, then pop it in the bottle. The same goes for any cloth-like materials you might have around, such as paper towels or wax paper. These are camping essentials anyway, so you might not even need those carrots once you know this hack.
But if you're all out of aluminum foil, cloth, or even baby carrots, a cut of potato crammed against the top with the cut side down will also form a nice seal. So will an uncut grape, if it happens to fit the bottle perfectly. Once again, it's bizarre and won't work as great as your original cork or a specialized wine stopper, but they'll do if you're in a pinch.