Shiny side up, or shiny side down?
Admit it, that’s the pressing question whenever you grab the aluminum foil.
So, why is there two sides to it? Is there a reason? Does one side do something the other doesn’t?
How are we ever supposed to know?
Well, it turns out, there IS a “right” side of the foil to use. Technically, anyway.
Both sides serve a purpose.
But there are benefits to using one side over another for different things.
However, the two different textures of aluminum foil are created because of the way it is manufactured.
The answer is in how it’s made.
The Aluminum Association tells us that aluminum foil, sometimes called “tin foil” which it isn’t actually, is made by casting molten aluminum into slabs.
These slabs are then processed into a rolling mill that rolls the sheets into specific thicknesses.
This is where the magic happens.
The sheets are cooled and then go through a cold rolling mill where it gets doubled and rolled out a second time.
It gets one more pass through the roller, rolling two sheets at once since it is now super thin.
This causes the outside piece to be shiny while the inner pieces, which are pressed together against the second sheet, become matte.
“This is a common question and the answer is that the foil is “milled” in layers during production. Milling is a process whereby heat and tension is applied to stretch the foil to the desired thickness,” the folks at Reynolds Wrap tell us.
“We mill two layers in contact with each other at the same time, because if we didn’t, the foil would break during the milling process. Where the foil is in contact with another layer, that’s the “dull” side. The “shiny” side is the side milled without being in contact with another sheet of metal. The performance of the foil is the same, whichever side you use.“
Reynolds wrap says rest assured.
Both sides of the foil are useable for cooking and baking as neither side has any kind of coating on it.
“With standard and heavy-duty foil, it’s perfectly fine to place your food on either side so you can decide if you prefer to have the shiny or dull side facing out,” their website says.
But that’s not true of all foils.
There is an exception and it depends on the kind of aluminum foil you’re using.
Some aluminum foil products do have a coating, including Reynolds non-stick foil.
This kind of foil makes sure your food doesn’t stick to it without having to spray pans down with non-stick spray.
“Foods like cheesy casseroles, barbecue, wings and foods grilled in foil packets will lift right off so you do not have a mess to scrub off your pans. You can also use non-stick foil to get creative with your baking and make custom single serve cake pans or even split pies,” Reynolds explains.
“The non-stick side is the side with the dull or flat finish. To help indicate which side is non-stick the foil has been imprinted with the words ‘NON-STICK Side.'”
The shiny side of aluminum foil is 88 percent reflective of radiant heat.
While this doesn’t make a difference when you’re heating food in an oven, if you’re making a solar oven, you’ll want to use it with the shiny side up.
Now that we’ve put that quandary to rest and know we can indeed use both sides of the foil, let’s see what else it can do.
Learn what foil can do outside of the kitchen in the video below!
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