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It’s been a hot minute since the last Amazon Prime sale, so if you’ve been wondering when the next one’s coming, you’re in luck!

The much-loved Prime Big Deal Days are officially back, landing on October 7 and 8, 2025.

This two-day event is exclusive to Prime members and means early access to hundreds of thousands of deals across everything from tech and toys to fashion and homeware. 

This year’s sale is already shaping up to be a good one, with up to 40% off across a huge range of categories, from home and kitchen essentials to electronics, toys, fashion, and beauty and self-care. Yep, there really is something for everyone. 

Always one to build anticipation, Amazon has already dropped a few hints about the big-name brands taking part – so expect to find big discounts on top names like Ninja, OURA, Dyson, Bosch and GHD. 

It’s basically the perfect excuse to get ahead on your Christmas shopping or just grab something nice for yourself.

So if you’re a Prime member, mark 7 and 8 October in your calendar as these deals won’t be sticking around for long.

Not a Prime member yet? There’s plenty of time to sign up. In fact, do so now and you’ll get a 30-day free trial giving you full access to all the perks and carrying you right the way through the Prime Big Deal Days sale event! Just remember to cancel before those 30 days are up to avoid being charged. 

The Prime benefits don’t stop with the sale though. Sign up and you’ll be privy to a range of benefits including streaming award-winning movies and TV shows with Prime Video, enjoying ad-free music and top podcasts with Amazon Music and playing free games with Prime Gaming. 

Prime members can also dive into a huge library of books and magazines with Prime Reading, store your photos securely with Amazon Photos and enjoy free delivery from your favourite restaurants and takeaways with Deliveroo Plus.

Phew! That’s a lot of perks. 

In preparation for the October sales event, we recommend signing up for Prime in advance and, while you’re at it, setting up your Amazon wishlist is a smart move.

That way, you won’t be left scrolling under pressure during the two-day sale, and you’ll be ready to snap up your favourites the second they drop.

And of course, be sure to check back with us as we’ll be rounding up all the best deals once Prime Big Deal Days go live on 7 and 8 October. You won’t want to miss it.

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Joe Wicks has launched his first-ever protein bar — but he really doesn’t want you to buy it.

The 40-year-old health guru, known as The Body Coach, became a national treasure after keeping the nation moving during lockdown. His easy teatime recipes have become go-tos for families across the country, and his adoring fans hang on his every word.

He seems like the perfect man to introduce a new protein bar; in fact, it’s a wonder he hasn’t done it before.

The thing is, Joe’s not a fan of the snacks, and in his new show, Licensed to Kill, we learn why.

The Channel 4 Documentary sees Joe create a product packed with chemicals linked to cancer, diabetes, strokes and — at the very least — diarrhoea.

Legally, Joe can make, promote, and sell a product he claims is so harmful, overconsumption could result in hospitalisation or even premature death — and he can still market it as a ‘health’ food.

It’s called Killer — a nod to the gym bros chasing ‘killer abs,’ and a not-so-subtle warning of the potential health consequences of eating ultra-processed foods (UPFs) in excess.

Now, before we go any further, it’s important to note that not all protein bars are dangerous, and not all UPFs are created equal.

Still, as I’m handed a Killer bar after meeting the notoriously friendly personal trainer at the documentary’s screening, I’m nervous.

I hold off unwrapping the ‘UK’s most dangerous health food’ until I’ve watched the first episode of the series. In it, Joe and Professor Chris van Tulleken develop their first collaboration — a chocolate orange protein bar with 96 ingredients, almost all of them chemical powders and synthetic sludge, apart from cocoa and marmalade.

‘Let’s not pussyfoot around — I want the maximum amount of each harmful ingredient while staying with the legal limit,’ says Joe as he pours additives and sweeteners into the gloopy mix.

They add maltitol, a type of sugar alcohol that doesn’t count as sugar on labelling, so companies can say their product has ‘no added sugar’ or is ‘low sugar’. But it can cause diarrhoea, which I’m not excited about.

There’s also aspartame, a sweetener that has been associated with a higher risk of stroke and cancer, according to the World Health Organisation. Plus maltodextrin, a sweet thickener that lab studies have linked to increases in intestinal inflammation.

With slight trepidation, I take my first bite of Killer. I hate how delicious it is. Even though the texture is intensely chewy and slightly overwhelming, it tastes exactly like a chocolate orange — just a little richer — and, crucially, it’s marketed as much healthier.

Of course, I know it’s not — but many would happily eat one a day, thinking they’re supplementing breakfast or lunch with a nutritious alternative.

Personally, one bite is enough. I can easily demolish a Chocolate Orange in one sitting — two on Christmas Day — but a whole Killer bar would feel like eating an entire supermarket aisle of Easter eggs.

Maybe it’s because I’ve just seen how recklessly it was made, using gunk that could send me to an early grave, but the thought of taking another bite makes me feel sick.

Knowing the full extent of what I’ve just consumed makes me feel genuinely nervous. One bite won’t kill me, of course, but when added to the ultra-processed foods I may be unknowingly eating elsewhere, it certainly doesn’t fill me with confidence.

I’ve never been a ‘protein hound,’ but I have turned to protein shakes and bars on occasion. After watching Licensed to Kill, I won’t be doing that again.

Thankfully, there’s no danger that Killer will spark the next national health crisis — or at least worsen the one we’re already in. Joe is only selling a few thousand bars. He has no interest in becoming a health bar entrepreneur.

Still, Joe’s teaser for the documentary on Instagram, posted shortly after the screening, proves to be controversial. Commenters accuse the PT of vilifying foods, exaggerating the health risks of UPFs, and ignoring the financial barriers to fresh food that many families face.

But the reality is, his bar is only slightly more concerning than some of the ones already lining supermarket shelves across the UK — and those are in high demand. Protein bars are a multibillion-pound industry. Some are made with natural ingredients, some are anything but. It’s currently really, really hard to tell them apart.

When Joe first laid out his plan to ‘poison the nation’ to make a point, I was dubious. But after watching him carefully carry out his provocative mission, I’m more convinced this could be the most important project of his life.

He’s not trying to tell anyone what to eat — but he is urging Parliament to ensure we’re properly informed about what we consume. In Chile, ultra-processed food comes with warning labels, similar to the ones we see on cigarette packets here in the UK. There’s no reason ultra-processed food shouldn’t be treated the same way here.

And as Joe added in an article for The Standard, financially-strapped, time-poor consumers also need more help. ‘The government and supermarkets need to put offers on real food, not just the crap they’re selling at the end of the aisles,’ he said.

Who could argue with that?

Perhaps Joe’s true legacy won’t be just keeping the nation fit during lockdown, but reducing cancer, strokes, diabetes, and premature deaths — all with a simple label on the foods quietly putting us in the ground.

A man has revealed his secret sexual fantasy left his wife in tears after he admitted he had been hiding it for a decade but could no longer resist the temptation

For most women, losing their breasts through cancer can be a hugely traumatic experience, both physically and emotionally. 

But I’m not most women. I identify as trans non-binary, sitting comfortably between genders. 

This was brought into sharp focus in 2021, when I was diagnosed with early-stage breast cancer, aged 50. 

Of course, my diagnosis was scary. But I have hated my breasts for my entire life. So alongside the trauma of a cancer diagnosis, for me, it was also an opportunity to get the chest I’d always wanted.  

I’m aware that’s a shocking thing to say, and for many, a shocking thing to hear.

For all my adult life, there was nothing more terrifying and upsetting than women’s cancer screenings because I never felt like a woman. 

While I have enormous respect for our wonderful NHS, providing life-saving cancer screening, I have always hated looking at or touching my breasts and was terrified of going for smears. 

It wasn’t until I was in my mid-forties that I had the language to describe how I identify and suddenly, life made sense. 

Still, medical professionals don’t always know how to deal with people who don’t fit the gender binary. 

Days before I hit my half century, my first ‘you’ve turned 50, here’s your breast cancer screening invite’ arrived.  

In attending the appointment, I knew I’d be surrounded by – what I viewed as – ‘proper women’, drawing my difference into even starker contrast. However, as my mum had gone through breast cancer 15 years before – and I’ve already been on my own 10-year journey with blood cancer – I knew I had to dig deep and go.  

I did. The appointment was over in minutes; utterly procedural, come in, take your shirt off, stand there. In the aftermath came a second letter.

They’d found something. Apparently, I had a 25% chance of it being the Big C, so I needed a follow-up appointment, and went back in.  

Two weeks and 12 biopsies later, I sat in the breast clinic. I stared silently at the posters on the walls, various depictions of women, not one of them looked like, or I felt, represented me.  

I thought being surrounded by others, all equally as anxious about what lay ahead would be unifying, but I felt so utterly out of place and very alone. 

Sure enough, I was told I had cancer. It felt – and still feels – so very jarring and unaligned to who I am to ever be discussing ‘breasts’.  

As the words sank in, I couldn’t help but feel like I was to blame. My thought process was that my long-held hatred for my boobs brought this upon myself because I’d always wanted them gone. 

The doctor went on to say it was very treatable, telling me how lucky I was, and that he’d book me in for a lumpectomy (surgery to remove cancer and conserve the breast), or a single mastectomy (complete removal) and reconstruction, followed by radiotherapy.  

The relief was huge. I wasn’t going to die. 

But, where did that leave my gender-affirming journey? I asked if a double mastectomy was an option, given that they were happy to take my cancer breast away and build me a new one, but he said, ‘there was no need to remove a healthy breast’.  

I tried to explain how I identified and where I was on my gender journey, that cancer had thrown a massive spanner in my gender affirming care plans as top surgery may gets more complicated post radiotherapy cancer treatment, but the answer remained ‘no’.  

For me, the only course of action was to have both my breasts removed. This was a chance to get the flat chest I’d always dreamt of. 

After several more disappointing appointments with surgeons, I finally found a private breast and oncoplastic specialist who was empathetic, listened to my story and understood that all cancer patients are unique. 

Treatment is not a one size fits all and after taking my case to a multi-disciplinary board to gain approval, my amazing surgeon confirmed he’d do a double mastectomy.    

Six weeks later, he removed the cancer, both my breasts, my nipples, and reconstructed the skin around the pectoral muscles. After six hours of surgery, I was wheeled back into my room, where my beautiful wife Emma was waiting.     

I remember her gently pulling the sheet down and opening the gown so I could see my completely flat chest. The relief and joy were overwhelming.

Amid the tears and fear of cancer, it was the amazing silver lining.   

Post-surgery, I attended a cancer support group, hoping to meet someone who may relate to my experience. But as I shared my story, I felt like such a fraud, guilty for feeling so positive about what cancer had given me.    

Certain cancers – like the blood cancer I live with and keep under control with daily chemo tablets – feel non-gendered. I have regular check-ups and every time the waiting room is filled with a variety of people, so I never feel out of place – we all bleed red. 

But what about those cancers that are typically associated with one gender? We need more consideration as to how they might affect someone who doesn’t identify with their sex assigned at birth.    

This has to improve. But I urge everyone, no matter how you feel about your body (parts) – please don’t ignore them. 

Female cancers can affect you, even if you don’t identify as female.   

From the horridness of cancer, I’ve been fortunate to be able to take something positive – to finally choose the body shape that is right for me. But what if there are more people like me within our beautiful trans and non-binary community? 

Can’t we be doing more to be kinder and more inclusive? To ensure everyone is seen for who they are and how they identify? 

Whatever health services people need to access, they should be able to do so with the care, respect, and dignity they deserve.  

Do you have a story you’d like to share? Get in touch by emailing James.Besanvalle@metro.co.uk. 

Share your views in the comments below.

As many people are turning to their horoscopes to predict their love life, Tinder have watched the passion for astrology play out on the popular dating app – and an expert weighs in on why

Leaves that slowly turn orange. Sunshine mornings with a chill in the air. Swapping out the summer wardrobe for cosy jumpers.

With autumn well underway in the UK, I can finally breathe a sigh of relief because, while I enjoy soaking up the vitamin D, summer is always complicated for me.

I’ve always leaned slightly more towards ‘mid-size’. Having my arms on show makes me feel vulnerable. I’ve had friends ask me if I’m too hot when I’ve deliberately kept a denim jacket on in 20-degree heat, which I’ve brushed off with a generic: ‘I didn’t check the weather forecast before I left the house today.’

Of course, it’s not just me. In 2024, the US Forbes Health survey found that more than half (51%) of Gen Zs feel pressured to either ‘get fit’ or ‘lose weight’ before going on holiday. And one 2025 UK study found that 22% of people reach the height of their discomfort showing their legs either at the beach or the swimming pool.

And this year, there’s been even more reason for me to crave the cool air that this season brings.

This year of the ‘skinny girl summer’

There’s no doubt about it, summer 2025 was, depressingly, ‘skinny girl summer.’

The likes of Ozempic, Wegovy and Mounjaro stopped being the reserve of A-listers, and firmly entered into the mainstream. A study from Kantar found that between March 2024 and August 2025, usage of GLP-1 drugs almost doubled, increasing from 2.3% to 4.1% of the population. Weight loss is now the main reason cited for taking it, superseding management of type 2 diabetes.

As families prepped to jet off for their summer holidays, there was advice on getting pens through customs, and how to bend the drug’s no-alcohol rule.

And, when I flicked my television on in the light evenings, I’d notice adverts for GLP-1 medications, forcing their way into the comfort of my living room. In July, the Advertising Standards Authority even banned an ‘irresponsible’ advert from M&S featuring a model with ‘large pointed shoes’ that emphasised ‘the slenderness of her legs.’

And in August, Serena Williams, one of the greatest tennis players of all time, revealed that she’d lost just over 14kg after using GLP-1 jabs. In an interview with Vogue, she said: ‘My whole life is being in the gym, working out, running, training, HIIT training, dancing… I would always get to a certain point on the scale, but I could never get below that.’

‘Your body isn’t seasonal – there’s no deadline for feeling at home in it’

Alex Light, a body image speaker and the author of You Are Not A Before Picture, has spent much of her life struggling with what she’s seen in the mirror. As a teen, she was dieting, constantly ‘chasing an ideal that kept changing.’ And in her 20s, she developed an eating disorder that ‘dominated’ the entire decade.

Alex has cultivated a ‘fairly steady’ relationship with her own body image through recovery – but she can’t help but feel concerned by the ‘pressure to be thin,’ which, in her view, ‘feels louder and heavier than ever.’

‘We’ve reverted back to the same old message that has hurt us for an extraordinarily long time: shrink yourself to be worthy of the beach, of attention, of being seen. The discourse has left a lot of people feeling like they’re back at square one with their body image, and I’ve felt that frustration too,’ 37-year-old Alex, who lives in London, shares.

Reflecting on the change of the seasons, Alex recognises that for some, the end of summer can feel like a ‘relief’ as that ‘intense spotlight’ dims a little.

‘It can also stir up guilt if you spent the season feeling like you “hid” or didn’t live fully. Try to remember that your body isn’t seasonal and there’s no deadline for feeling at home in it,’ she shares, offering up advice for anyone who might be struggling as the leaves turn brown.

‘It can be a good time to shift the focus away from how your body looks and towards how you want to feel in it: maybe comfortable or strong, rested, nourished. Body confidence isn’t about loving every inch of yourself all the time; it’s about loosening the grip that shame and comparison have over your life.’

How does body image change with the seasons? It’s complicated

Dr Helena Lewis-Smith is a health psychology researcher at the University of the West of England, specialising in body image. She highlights that people who already face discrimination, including based on their bodies, are likely to experience ‘compounding pressures.’

‘Societal messaging that equates thinness with success or desirability can intensify scrutiny and stigma, reinforcing existing inequalities and potentially increasing discrimination already faced by marginalised groups,’ she says.

Elsewhere, she reminds us that autumn isn’t a quick fix for a more body positive mindset: in a few months, the diet industry will be feeding – and profiting – off people’s insecurities in January.

‘Generally, we know that from April and May people begin to feel anxious and that’s when they’ll start pursuing these weight loss behaviours. The fact that you’re outside seeing people, you’re more likely to engage in body comparisons, more so than say in the autumn and the winter when you’re staying in and drinking your red wine, sat on the sofa. This is when people really start to engage in weight loss strategies,’ she notes.

‘People might be feeling slightly less pressure from now onwards, but then come January, it continues again. From the research, we know that people tend to start pursuing weight loss strategies again, come the New Year.’

As Dr Helena shares, one of the biggest mechanisms for people experiencing body image concerns, no matter what the weather’s doing outside, is the comparison spiral.

‘People compare themselves with their friends, on social media, with influencers, and that is one of the main reasons why people feel dissatisfied with their bodies because they don’t match up to what they’re seeing,’ she explains.

‘We live in a fatphobic society that doesn’t value people who live in larger bodies. But there are people who are not living in larger bodies who are taking these drugs.’

So, what’s the answer? From a health psychology perspective, Dr Helena believes that there should be a greater emphasis on helping people, rather than shaming them into weight loss.

This might include teaching strategies, behaviours and thoughts to empower people to do things like ‘practise intuitive eating’ or ‘eat food that’s going to fuel them.’

There’s one caveat, though: this type of psychological support typically isn’t offered alongside GLP-1 drugs, which Dr Helena says is a ‘very narrow approach to weight loss.’

‘We conflate weight with health, and we shouldn’t be doing that, as health is so much more. The irony is, if you encourage people to have better body image, that person will probably end up losing weight, but they’ll do it in a healthy way,’ she concludes.

So, while there needs to be room for plenty of nuance, perhaps the only way for us to really feel confident in our bodies is to completely dismantle the systems that fuel fatphobia and misogyny altogether. And that’s quite the radical task, no matter the season.

Do you have a story to share?

Get in touch by emailing MetroLifestyleTeam@Metro.co.uk.

In March 2023, Moira Jordan was in her wedding era. The bride-to-be had sent out the save the dates, booked the village hall, and said ‘yes’ to the dress.

When she wasn’t planning her nuptials to groom, Sam, 33, she was a busy geography teacher in South London, gearing up to get her students through exam season.

But Moira, now 32, was just four months away from her big day, when her life changed.

She received a diagnosis of triple positive breast cancer, and embarked on a gruelling health journey.

She tells Metro: ‘It was the hardest thing I’ve ever had to go through, without a doubt.

‘It was a very sad time, but I’m trying to have gratitude — both for the excellent care I received and for the amazing friends and family I was surrounded by.’

Prior to her diagnosis, Moira was fit and healthy, but says that she was ‘breast aware’ due to a family history of cancer.

She explains: ‘My mum, Marian, was diagnosed with ovarian cancer in 2015, and a year later it was confirmed that I have the BRCA gene mutation.’

Everyone has BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes, but if the gene has changed in some way, it can increase the risk of certain types of cancers developing.

BRCA1 and BRCA2 gene variants can cause a much higher risk of breast and ovarian cancer.

Moira says: ‘I was only 24 when I found out, and the guidance is generally that the risk increases once you’re in your 30s.

‘I thought I could wait to go through any treatment until after I’d had a family.’

But, as Moira says, ‘the cancer caught up with me sooner than expected’.

‘I’m not sure when I first felt a thickening in my breast,’ she continues. ‘I think I thought it was just how my breast was, which seems so stupid now.

‘Eventually I went to the doctor, and two weeks later, I was in hospital for a scan and a biopsy.’

While the doctors didn’t diagnose Moira there and then, she said there was a five-word tell-tell sign from the doctor.

Moira explains: ‘She said to me, “we’ll see you next week.’ And I just remember thinking, if everything was fine, they’d write to me or call. But clearly, they’d seen something and wanted to talk to me about it. It was then that I knew things were going to change.’

Moira’s suspicions were confirmed, when she was asked to return to hospital the following week.

‘I went alone,’ she says. ‘I went in with the nurse, and the doctor started speaking and he just said: “This is cancer”

‘My response was: “No, it’s not.” We actually went back and forth for a minute or two, with him confirming it was cancer, and me insisting that it wasn’t.

‘I just couldn’t get my head around it. It was a blur after that.’

In the weeks and months that followed, Moira embarked on a gruelling treatment plan.

After fertility treatment, she had eight rounds of intense chemotherapy, a double mastectomy and reconstruction, and 15 rounds of radiotherapy. The following year, she underwent a further 14 rounds of chemotherapy.

‘I tried to be positive,’ she says, ‘but it was a very, very low time. Most people my age were travelling, making memories, and starting their own families, while I was going through this.

‘I had to stop working, and the fatigue was terrible. As time passed, I just felt worse and worse.

‘Chemotherapy was particularly dark. I was so scared about catching coughs and colds that I just shut myself off.’

Moira and Sam were also forced to cancel their wedding. She says: ‘I called round friends and family, and obviously I had to explain what was going on.’

Thankfully, Moira’s treatment was a success, and after finishing radiotherapy, she began taking tablets to block oestrogen, as the hormone can make the cancer return. She’ll likely be on medication for the next five to 10 years.

And, after two years of constant hospital visits, Moira began rebuilding her physical and mental strength, attending physiotherapy at Guy’s Hospital, London, where she began running.

‘At that point I never believed I’d be capable of doing any kind of intensive exercise again. Spending so much time in hospitals meant I became quite reliant on others and totally lost both my independence and confidence. This was my chance to rebuild everything I lost.’

And finally, in October 2024, Moira and Sam were able to walk up the aisle.

She says: ‘We did it all pretty last minute. We only sent the invites out eight weeks before.

‘I really wanted it to be a day where I didn’t feel sad, so I tried to keep the cancer out of it. It was a wonderful day.’

Now, Moira is preparing to run the Royal Parks Half Marathon alongside 16,000 people on Sunday October 12 in support of CoppaFeel – the UK’s only youth-focused breast cancer charity – as part of her mission to raise awareness and empower more young people to be aware of changes in their body.

She’s particularly passionate about making breast cancer education a standard part of school life, ensuring that every young person leaves the education system knowing how to check their body, recognise what’s normal, and seek help if something changes.

Looking ahead to race-day, Moira said: ‘This race will mark just over two years since my surgery. It’s the latest in a series of opportunities I never thought I’d have.’

When asked what advice she would give to someone going through something similar, Moira said: ‘Try and make small daily goals and simply focus on getting by at first. Don’t think about what you can’t do, but about what you can do.’

Now, reflecting on her goals for race-day and beyond, Moira says: ‘I simply want to raise awareness on the importance of young people regularly checking on their own health and wellbeing.

‘Having been diagnosed at a young  age myself, this mission feels more important to me than ever.’

To donate to CoppaFeel! visit Moira’s fundraising page, go to: Moira’s fundraising page.

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Get in touch by emailing MetroLifestyleTeam@Metro.co.uk.

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As autumn creeps in, spiders start seeking shelter indoors and for many of us, that means more unexpected and unwanted eight-legged visitors popping up around the house. 

If you long to get rid of the critters but the thought of squashing or getting up close to them makes you shudder, you’re definitely not alone.

The cooler weather sends all kinds of bugs scuttling inside in search of warmth and while some of us might be fine with a quick shoe-swat, others want a more humane, less “final” solution.

One contraption that does just that and is racking up plenty of five star reviews from Amazon customers is the Keplin Foldable Spider Catcher. 

Keplin Foldable Spider Catcher, Bug Trap Catcher Extra Long with Handle

If you hate spiders in your home, this foldable spider catcher is the gadget to buy. Featuring a foldable arm that extends from 45cm-81cm and firm bristles that open and close with a squeeze of its lever, it humanely and quickly catches spiders and other critters ready to relocate them elsewhere without squashing them.

Buy Now for £9.99

This innovative tool allows you to quickly remove spiders and other bugs without squashing them. 

With a foldable arm that extends from 45cm to 81cm, it lets you keep a safe distance from creepy crawlies while easily catching and relocating your unwanted guests.

Simply open up the extending arm and secure in place, then squeeze on the lever to open the bristles. Pop the bristles over the spider and release the handle to securely catch your little house guest before relocating it outside. 

It’s lightweight, easy to use, and really effective. 

But, it’s not just us who love it – shoppers are raving about how well the Keplin Foldable Spider Catcher works in real life. 

One review left by an anonymous Amazon customer said: ‘Brilliant!! Reaches up into the corners of rooms with no trouble and traps the spiders with the push of a button! They don’t escape until you release them. Fantastic gadget!’

A review left by a shopper named Jo reads: ‘This little gadget is great for the bugs, wasps, and things you really don’t want in your home but don’t want to touch. It works really well and doesn’t harm them, just holds them securely so you can release them safely outside!’

And a review from another anonymous shopper said: ‘Ordered this after having a bad arachnophobia flare up and it’s helped my anxiety so much. Just used it for the first time and the whole thing was easily dealt with within minutes with no issues. The price is defo worth it. I highly recommend it!’

Don’t let scuttling spiders make themselves at home this autumn. Grab a Keplin Spider Catcher and show them the door – quickly and humanely.

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I’d never normally advise adding anything to your wine.

The winemaker has spent time and energy crafting their vision, to be sipped and appreciated by us in its unadulterated form. So, tampering with your Tempranillo is something of a heresy. Unless, of course, the quality is downright shocking.

Normally, when it comes to wine, I’m as compliant as they come. Heck, I’m the same guy who told you that putting ice in your rosé was uncouth only a few weeks ago. And that generated some lively opinions in the comments, I can tell you.

But, hear me out on this, as I know what I’m about to suggest is going to get mixed reactions. Putting salt in wine can improve it. There, I said it.

History tells us to put salt in wine

Salt is a known harmoniser of flavours, in the right quantity. In fact, there’s an old saying that reads, ‘salt makes its presence felt, only in its absence’. You only have to look at our national enthusiasm for salted caramel, where the seasoning balances out the sweetness of the sugar. But could our appreciation for salted caramel stretch to adding salt to wine?

This very concept goes all the way back to Roman times, when they made a wine called Turriculae. Roman winemakers would food-stomp the grapes and fill earthenware jars with ‘the must’ (juice, grape flesh, skins and pips) for fermentation. They’d then sprinkle in ingredients like ground fenugreek and iris, but the final item they’d add in was unexpected. Seawater, which gave the wine a notable salinity.

There’s even a famous wine producer of the modern age who’s tried it. Portuguese winemaker, Dirk Niepoort makes some of the world’s most celebrated Port. He heard about the seawater method from a wine producer in the Azores, who used the technique to try and make his wines last longer. Dirk wanted to make some of his regular wines lighter, so decided to experiment by adding saltwater to a 500L barrel filled with pressed grapes, grown close to the Atlantic.

Dirk and his team tested out various salt-to-wine ratios, and settled on 1% salt as the optimum. He and his team apparently enjoyed the tangy, saline influence of a 1% salty wine, claiming it gave the wine, “more life”. At 1% the salt is largely undetectable, but makes the wine taste smoother and more well-rounded.

How salt works

It’s the same principal as seasoning your food to bring out the accompanying flavours. If you think about it, wine already has the sweetness from the fruit, the bitterness from the tannins and the zestiness from the grape’s natural acidity. Salt provides the saline balance.

And although salinity is perceived on the tip of our tongues, it’s more about how it effects the flavours around it that matters. Salt increases our perception of fruitiness but reduces our awareness of acidity, so, adding salt to wine makes us perceive it as sweeter and less acidic than it really is. It can also make a sweet wine more savoury, dialling down the perception of sugar.

Some coastal wines are naturally saline, from salt crystals blown in from the sea onto the grapes before pressing. One of the most famous regions for this is Rias Baixas, in northeastern Spain (Galicia, just above Portugal), where the vines are metres away from the sea. Another is Santorini, a Greek island in the Aegean Sea, which is known to be significantly more salty than the Atlantic Ocean.

There is a flurry of discussion around how the vine itself takes in the salt (or if it even does), with many scientists maintaining that it’s impossible for a vine to pull up Sodium Chloride and other minerals from the soil via its roots.

Try the salt hack at home

I only use this hack on wines that taste unbalanced, with too much acidity, not enough fruit to them or that are even slightly bitter. Or, if you’ve managed to buy yourself a wine that’s sweeter than the description on the label, usually the cheaper kind. Basically, make sure it’s a wine you would struggle to drink if no changes were made to it.

Pour yourself a glass of wine (any colour), then sprinkle a pinch of salt over it. Give it a quick stir, which will also aerate the wine. I tried it on a red wine I have found to be overly sweet and jammy, an Australian wine called 19 Crimes.

A pinch of salt transformed the wine, making the fruit mouthwateringly savoury, injecting a thwack of sapid energy into the glass.It tasted more gastronomic, I would have rushed over to the butchers and matched with with a prime ribeye steak, had it not been 10am.

And look, if the Spanish can add Fanta and Coke to red wine and find it acceptable, I personally don’t think anything can be as bad. You be the judge.

Other drinks to salt hack

Add salt crystals to a Martini to make it crisper and more savoury. Works with gin or vodka, doesn’t matter. Gin Mare, the Spanish gin brand states that, “the ultimate Martini” demands a little salt to bring out the flavour of the spirit base

Birra Moretti, part of Heineken, brought out Birra Moretti Sale di Mare, with a hint of sea salt. It works in the same way; salt highlights the beer’s sweet, malty notes, minimises hoppy bitterness and picks out subtle notes you would have missed. It’s similar to pubs providing salty bar snacks to accompany your pint

Add flaky sea salt to a Gin and Tonic for a smoother, less botanically bitter experience.

A few other kitchen cabinet hacks

Vinegar can zhuzh up your cocktails with a tart edge, giving them a layer of complexity that can elevate the most basic of drinks. Experiment with apple cider, balsamic, rice or sherry vinegar in place of bitters, though, just a splash.

If a cocktail calls for simple syrup and you’re fresh out, use honey or maple syrup instead, especially when it comes to whisky or bourbon-led drinks. You might want to mix them with some warm water to give them a thinner consistency first.

Half finished jars of fruity jams make the perfect lazy cocktails. Just pour in your spirit and give it a shake!