How Salt Can Help Keep Your Drinks Cold

You don't need us to tell you that a good, long drink of ice water is perfect for beating the heat on humid, muggy summer days. A tall glass of lemonade or frozen cocktails are perfect for summer. But in this hot weather, you better drink up, or else your pitcher of ice-cold lemonade is going to be a lukewarm pitcher of lemon-flavored water before too long.

You could do the tried-and-true method of filling a cooler with ice and loading it up with soda and beer, and that works just fine. You could also take EatingWell's advice and purchase some reusable ice cubes to both keep your drink cold and prevent it from being watered down. You could also try and wrap your bottled drinks in a wet paper towel and stick it in the freezer to make them cool faster and for longer (via Reddit). The point is, there are a lot of tricks you can do to keep your drinks, whether alcoholic or not, as cold as can be.

According to some sources, however, all you really need to keep your drinks nice and cool is a few handfuls of salt.

Now, we know what you're thinking. You don't want to drink a bottle of hot water, but you also don't want to swallow mouthfuls of ice-cold saltwater. Rest assured, while this method does involve salt and water, at no point will you be adding it to your drinks.

As AllRecipes explains, fill a cooler or large pot with ice, water, and lots of salt. Submerge your bottles and cans in this cooler of saltwater, waiting about three to five minutes for the drinks to become much colder. While this is no doubt a great way to get your drinks cold in a few minutes at your next barbeque, how does salt help get it colder? Doesn't salt melt ice, after all?

According to Popular Science, saltwater can remain much colder than regular water without freezing. This is because salt prevents the formation of ice crystals, keeping the water at a low temperature without it turning to ice. The salt will still melt the ice, but lower it to a 0-degree Fahrenheit temperature rather than the average 32 degrees. This means the water will be colder, thus helping to chill your drinks much faster.

It's also recommended to agitate the drinks, such as spin them or shake them, every so often when they're in the saltwater solution to help with heat redistribution. Salt may just be the miracle ingredient we've always needed in the summer.