Reese Witherspoon defends eating snow after backlash over iced coffee tutorial

Reese Witherspoon has attracted criticism for using snow to create a 'snow salt chococcino'. Photo / Invision

Reese Witherspoon has defended her unorthodox method of making iced coffee with fallen snow scooped off of her barbecue.

The Oscar-winning actress, 47, was criticised by fans after sharing her recipe for a “snow salt chococcino”, made from cold brew coffee, syrups and snow she collected in a mug from outside her home.

Fans wrote to her to warn that snow was not safe to eat and can absorb pollution and other toxic substances from the air.

“What if birds pooped in that snow?” one commented.

Witherspoon referenced her childhood and sporadic snow in her justification.

Witherspoon referenced her childhood and the spontaneity of the snow in her justification for making the drink. Photo / TikTok

Witherspoon responded by defending her unusual recipe, writing: “There’s so many people on here saying snow is dirty so we went and took snow from the backyard and we microwaved it and it’s clear,” she said.

“Is this bad? Am I not supposed to eat snow?”

In a second clip, she added: “Okay so we’re kind of in a category of ‘you only live once’ and it snows maybe once a year here. I don’t know!

“Also, I want to say something. It was delicious. It was so good.”

The Morning Show and Big Little Lies star added: “I didn’t grow up drinking filtered water. We drank out of the tap water. We actually put our mouths on the tap and then sometimes like in the summer, when it was hot, we drank out of the hose.

“So what you’re saying to me is I have to filter the snow before I eat it? I just can’t. Filtered snow. I don’t know how to do that.”

Witherspoon claimed that her iced drink was 'delicious' and backed her decision despite fans raising health concerns. Photo / TikTok

Scientists have concluded that snow is usually safe to eat but can also contain harmful pollutants, including car exhaust fumes that combine with snow in the air as it falls.

Laura Martin, an assistant professor of paediatrics at Ohio State University, said in a blog post: “As snow is falling, it can collect small but measurable amounts of chemical contaminants from the air.

“This is more of a concern in densely industrial regions and areas with significant air pollution. On very windy days, more of these contaminants are dispersed within the falling snow.”

Experts have warned not to eat freshly fallen snow, which attracts the most pollutants from the air, or snow that has been in ploughed or come into direct contact with the ground.

Reese Witherspoon created a TikTok video to share her now-infamous iced coffee recipe that uses freshly fallen snow. Photo / TikTok