You're never too old to learn something new, no matter how seemingly inconsequential it may be. However, any interesting tidbit concerning a fluffy, wonderfully doughy carb is never inconsequential to us. Never. Just ask the biscuit brigade that taught us that grating butter yields far more flaky biscuits, or the cast-iron savants who showed us the best way to eat leftover skillet cornbread is in a glass with buttermilk and honey. 

Our most recent tip doesn't concern how to bake or repurpose, but how to correctly prepare a store-bought bread that many people enjoy daily: English muffins. Anyone who has ever purchased English muffins knows that they can be difficult to tear apart or slice evenly in half. In fact, using a knife to open an English muffin can rip through the delicate air bubbles and texture, which isn't ideal. Instead, the subtle indentations on the rounded sides (that can appear like wrinkles or creases) actually have a purpose other than tearing at with hungry desperation until you're left with an uneven, ripped muffin.

The correct way to open an English muffin doesn't require a knife at all, nor aggressive ripping with your fingers. Instead, you can just squeeze it until it pops open. Here's how it works.

First, grab the English muffin with both hands. Your fingers should be along the sides of the muffin, instead of on the top and bottom. Gently squeeze the sides inwards with your fingers. As you're squeezing the sides, rotate the muffin. You'll notice the center of the muffin starting to buckle outwards. By the time you've rotated completely around the English muffin, it pops right open all by itself! Thanks to the characteristic indentations on the side of English muffins, squeezing causes the center to tear open easily on its own. Visual learners can see the hack in action here.

Next time you're hankering for a toasted English muffin with jam or a homemade egg sandwich, feel free to leave your knives out of it.