Reese Witherspoon has defended her unusual method of making iced coffee using snow collected from her grill.
This Oscar-winning actressThe 47-year-old came under fire from fans after sharing her recipe for “Chococinno”, made with cool brew coffee, syrups and snow collected in a cup outside her home.
Fans wrote to warn her that the snow is not edible and can absorb pollutants and other toxic substances from the air.
“What if birds poop in this snow?” someone else commented.
Spoon She responded by defending her unusual recipe, writing, “There are so many people here who say snow is sullied, so we went and collected snow from the yard, microwaved it and it’s spotless,” she said.
“Is this bad? Shouldn’t I eat snow?”
In the second clip, she added: “Okay, so we’re in the ‘you only live once’ category and it snows here maybe once a year. I don’t know!
“I also want to say something. It was delicious. It was so good.”
Morning program and the Gigantic Little Lies star added: “I didn’t grow up drinking filtered water. We drank tap water. We put our mouths in the tap and then sometimes, like in the summer when it was sizzling, we’d drink from the hose.
“So you’re telling me I have to filter the snow before I eat it? I just can’t. Filtered snow. I don’t know how to do that.”
Scientists have concluded that snow is usually safe for consumption, but they can also contain harmful pollutants, including vehicle exhaust fumes, which combine with snow in the air when it falls.
Laura Martin, assistant professor of pediatrics at Ohio State University, wrote in a blog post: “Snowfall can release compact but measurable amounts of chemical pollutants into the air.
“This is more of a concern in regions with ponderous industrialization and areas with significant air pollution. On very windy days, more of these pollutants are dispersed in falling snow.”
Experts warn against eating freshly fallen snow, which attracts the most airborne pollutants, or snow that has been shoveled or has had direct contact with the ground.
