Food Myths: Does placing in a spoon in a champagne bottle really keep it bubbly?

Champagne is one of the most iconic drinks in the world. The industry is worth €4.9 billion ($5.44 billion) and almost 1.4 million bottles are sold each year, with France, the US and the UK accounting for the majority of the world’s champagne consumption.

Our love of champagne (and its relatively high cost) has led us to try preserving the delightfully bubbles that make champagne what it is. By far the strangest and most divisive of these methods is placing a spoon in the neck of bottle.

Proponents of this theory say that the spoon method will keep champagne bubbly for one, sometimes even two days after opening. Scientifically, it’s said that that the spoon absorbs heat, and since warm air rises, the heat then forces down the cold air into the neck of the bottle. This, it’s said, creates a kind of natural stopper, blocking the carbon dioxide from leaving and keeping the champagne bubbly.

Does it work? Well, sort of. To understand the concept fully requires a little bit of science. Carbon dioxide is the chemical compound that makes our drinks fizzy. Everything from champagne, to sparkling water to a can of Coke are all carbonated drinks. How they become carbonated is a different matter. Traditional champagne is left to ferment naturally in the bottle, where…