Salt can do so much more than just add flavor to your favorite dishes. Today I thought I’d share 9 of the best practical uses for salt both in the kitchen and well beyond it. I think you’ll be as impressed as I was!
9 Practical Household Uses for Salt
1. Clean Cast Iron Pans
Well-seasoned cast iron pans can usually be wiped clean with ease, but on those occasions when you need a little more scrubbing power, grab some coarse salt. Pour a handful of it into the pan while it’s still warm, add enough vegetable oil to the salt to form a gritty paste, then use a clean, dry dish rag to scrub the salt and oil paste around the inside of the pan.
The salt will provide the extra scouring power you need to remove those stuck-on food bits, while the oil soaks up the grime and helps to build up the seasoning on your pan. When you’re done scrubbing, dump the salt mixture out and wipe up any residual salt and oil with a paper towel or another clean rag.
Read More: How to Clean Cast Iron Cookware the Right Way
2. Restore Crispness to Veggies
When crisp veggies like cucumbers, radishes, celery, or carrots turn soft while in your fridge, you can use a bit of salt to crisp them up again. Slice the veggies and place them in a colander along with a dozen or so ice cubes and a pinch of salt.
Use your hands to toss the veggies, salt, and ice together and set the colander inside a bowl. Place the bowl in your fridge for an hour or so, then pat your newly crisp veggies dry and use them up as soon as you can.
3. Clean Up Spilled Egg
Dropped a raw egg on the kitchen floor? Sprinkle salt over the top of the mess and leave it there for about 20 minutes. Then you’ll be able to wipe it right up.
4. Put out a Grease Fire
Pour salt on top of a grease fire to smother it and put it out. (And remember, never pour water on a grease fire!)
5. Clean Artificial Flowers
Put dusty artificial flowers in a bag of salt and shake the bag. Take a look at the color of the salt afterward—yuck!
6. Erase Stains from Mugs
You can use salt to help you scrub out coffee and tea stains from mugs. Rub them with salt to remove the staining before washing them thoroughly with soap and water.
7. Absorb Food Stains
If you spill some of your food or drink on the table cloth or your shirt, rub some salt onto the area to help draw out the stain, then put the item in the wash. (This is especially helpful when you’re eating out or at home, because there’s usually salt close by.)
8. Deter Ants
Forget the harsh chemical pesticides; to keep ants at bay, one of the safest home remedies is to create a line of salt where you’ve spotted ants moving around. Salt dehydrates and kills most insects so they’ll do whatever they can to avoid it.
9. Make Eggs Easier to Peel
Did you know that eggs boiled in lightly salted water will peel more easily? Add a big pinch of salt to your water and cook the eggs as usual.
Do you have know of any other tips or tricks that use salt?
More Ideas You'll Love
Just wanted to add to the point – Keeping milk fresh – Adding a pinch of salt to milk will keep it fresh longer – Milk should never be mixed or eaten with sour, bitter, salty, astringent, or pungent tastes. Drinking milk with incompatible food especially salt, leads to skin diseases like Leucoderma etc over a period of time. This is as per Ayurveda and in India we always avoid these food combinations. You may do further research on this to authenticate.
Please log in or create a free account to comment.A small saucer in your garden with beer will draw all your slugs. Yes beer.
Please log in or create a free account to comment.Add a pinch of rock salt when boiling bananas(saba) to make them taste sweeter.
Please log in or create a free account to comment.In my House we used marine Salt with 96% Alcohool to pain relieve, use in pain shoulders, knees, and other places.
Dont drink!.
Regards
Please log in or create a free account to comment.Thank u, this was Awesome! I couldn’t stop reading. All this Info is so useful & Helpful!
Please log in or create a free account to comment.Thanks for so many great tips! I gotta try the colour fast one.
Please log in or create a free account to comment.This is fantastic! Thank you so much for all the hard work in creating this roundup! Linking to it on my site for sure! :)
Please log in or create a free account to comment.http://insanrehberi.com/blogs/entry/Losing-Weight-The-Zumba-Method
Please log in or create a free account to comment.I copy/paste to notepad for quick reference of things I know for sure I will use ~
Please log in or create a free account to comment.Incidentally there are quite a lot of sites that do have lists that you can print about salt uses. Loads of little reference books too.
Please log in or create a free account to comment.Wish this was a printable list. Would be wonderful to keep on hand for quick reference. Great list though. Thank you.
Please log in or create a free account to comment.Yes, I too wish it were in a printable form. Great information!
Please log in or create a free account to comment.If you want to print this page or save it, Just highlight the page or areas you want to copy, right click and click copy. Bring up Word and right click and click paste. That simple.
Please log in or create a free account to comment.i dont use rock salt for my sidewalk . i use regulat salt it works fasterd then rock salt
Please log in or create a free account to comment.enjoyed these! couldn’t help but notice that in the pic of the tarnished spoon, the pattern on the spoon bowl looks a bit like someone fallen over. lol. good tips!
Please log in or create a free account to comment.If a restaurant uses a cocktail napkin as a coaster for your drink, sprinkle a little salt on the napkin and it won’t stick to your sweaty glass.
Please log in or create a free account to comment.CAPRAGLAS
sorry i just put capra on my 1st inquirey. can i use just plain salt in my bath water? and i would really like to try this on my face and neck. what measurements of sea salt and water would be used? thanks for your patience regarding my questions (: (:
Please log in or create a free account to comment.Lynn,
Please log in or create a free account to comment.Again, sorry for the late reply; as I said in my first comment, I am not a professional in this area, so everything I said is from personal experience. I never measured the amount of salt I used, it has always been an intuitive process, but I believe the more salt you use the better the result, being more concentrated; so please don’t be afraid to experiment with the proportions and find the concentration you are most comfortable with.
I am sure that salt in the bath tub is very beneficial as well, but I couldn’t say whether it would have exactly the same effect as my suggested treatment. Again, the main idea is that salt is very good for the skin, you should choose in which way you want to use it, invent your own routine. : )
CAPRA:
i’m curious as to the ratio. 1.3. i’m confused as to the ” 1 part of something, to 2 parts” can it be explained in teaspoons or tablespoons, or cups? hope someone can explain these things to me, yep i’m “that” clueless, lol thanks for any help (: (:
Please log in or create a free account to comment.1:3 means if you have one cup of something (in this instance, use SALT), you add three cups of something else (in this instance, WATER)
Please log in or create a free account to comment.To clean flower vases that you can’t reach the bottom, put ice in with the salt and swish around. The weight of the ice helps scrub the sides.
Please log in or create a free account to comment.I’d like to add a unique and precious cosmetic secret (of mine) regarding salt use; I’m 26, but my skin looks 17 the most, without absolutely no wrinkles or pimple problems, but just a few small blackheads; of course I wouldn’t give the entire credit to my salt secret, but I wouldn’t let a week go by without doing this routine at least once.
Please log in or create a free account to comment.A few years ago I stumbled upon a so-called salt soap bar in a nature shop, so I was intrigued, bought it and did research on it; it is actually a pure salt crystal in the shape of a soap bar (hence the name, it is smooth and round like a rock); this is how I learned about the benefits of salt for the skin. At first I used it according to the instructions: after shower I massaged my entire body and face with the salt bar and let it air dry, didn’t rinse or wipe it off, and went to bed like that. At first you’d say that’s disgusting, the skin would feel very tight like paper and the micro crystals on your body would itch etc., and you’d be right; the next morning though, during shower, my skin felt so moisturised, healthy, elastic and perfect and my face flawlessly moist and clean, without any need to apply any other oil or cream and with fewer blackheads! Since that discovery I’ve been doing this weekly, every time with the same remarcable results.
Salt has, among others, highly anti-bacterial and healing properties that balance the skin’s PH and sebum secretions, while letting it regenerate by itself. We all know since we were little, that salt on a wound would sting like hell, but would disinfect it and help with the healing too. Some recommend it to be used even daily, especially as an acne, anti-wrinkle and anti-cellulite treatment, and also as a deodorant and after-shave (I suppose it’s similar to the Alaun stone); also, it is insisted that one shouldn’t use any other type oil or cream after applying the salt.
I am not a specialist in this area and unfortunatelly all the relevant sites I found on the subject aren’t in English, so I can only speak from personal experience: since I started using salt on my body I generally enhanced my skin’s health all over, have fewer blackheads, have less cellulite, my face feels less puffy (during the first day after treatment), even my childhood scars on my knees are less visible. I obviuosly use only the best quality pure salt, be it sea salt or mine salt. I don’t just use that salt bar, but sometimes prepare a highly concentrated saline solution (1:3 ratio of salt to water) and just massage it after shower; this is not about that salt bar, but about the benefits of salt for skin, not as an exfoliant, but as a leave-in treatment.
I really do hope you will at least try this and have the same surprise and delight while using salt and getting a perfectly healthy and young skin. The word for this treatment would be HEALTHY : )
Where would one find such a salt bar? I’m intrigued!
Please log in or create a free account to comment.STACEY,
Sorry for the late reply. I found my salt soap in health shops, I found it here as well
http://www.amazon.com/100-Pure-Himalayan-Salt-Soap/dp/B001G773BU
If you can’t find the “soap”, it’s ok, it’s the idea that matters, not the shape of the salt, so you cand use any other form of salt diluted in water, or, in a solid form, get a salt crystal and round up the edges and use it just the same as a salt soap.
Goodluck!
Really got some wonderful ideas from this page and have it bookmarked, but please let me ask you about the salt and skin thing. Do you just rub the salt on your body after you shower and leave it there, or do you make some type of paste. Doesn’t it make your bed gritty? Please let me know.
Peace and Grace
Please log in or create a free account to comment.Azar
Oh and also warm sea salt water rinses for babies with yeasty diaper rashes or other yeast rashes and for adults with yeast problems “down there” or wherever!
Please log in or create a free account to comment.How do you use it? Do you put the water & salt in a spray bottle, in a pan to sit in, etc.? Also, what are the ratio of salt & water?
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