Salt: More Than Seasoning Food

Common household salt that everyone has on hand may be used for a lot more than just seasoning food. It is cheap and readily available, so make good use of it as follows:

Healing

Salt to the rescue if you just had a tooth pulled or a sore finger or an open blister on your foot. To quickly heal your mouth, dissolve a teaspoon of salt in a small cup of lukewarm water and gently rinse your mouth with it. Do this 3 or 4 times a day. For a sore cut finger, soak the finger in the cup of salt solution as hot as you can stand it, for approximately 15 minutes, 3-4 times per day. Pat dry and cover the finger with a clean dry bandage. Do the same for an open blister on your foot by soaking it in a salt solution of 1 cup of salt in 4-6 cups of fairly hot water in a small clean pail or pan. The salt will help to draw out any infection and promotes healing. This is particularly good for a slightly infected hangnail, but do keep a close eye on it and if it isn’t better in a day or two, do visit your Doctor. You can also use a warm salt solution to rinse a sore eye.

Cut Flowers

Dissolve a little salt in the water for a vase of cut flowers to make them last longer. Recut the stem ends every 3 days, wash out the vase and replace the lightly salted water in it.

For The Mouth

Dry salt sprinkled on a toothbrush makes a good tooth polisher. Slightly salted water makes a very good mouthwash and if you use it quite warm it is soothing for a sore throat.

Clean Salad Greens or Garden Veggies

Dissolve 1-3 teaspoons of salt in a bowlful of cool water and soak your salad greens, broccoli, cauliflower, etc for 10 - 15 minutes to more easily remove dirt, freshen the veggies, but more importantly to kill off any garden bugs or slugs that may be lurking in them. Rinse well under cool running water and cook as desired. Use this method especially if buying fresh greens or veggies from a Market Gardener rather than from a supermarket. Do remember that fresher is better for retaining essential vitamins and minerals for you.

Fresh Cut Fruits

Leave fruits eg. Apples, peaches, pears, etc. as whole as possible after peeling and pop the fruits into a bowl of lightly salted cool water to keep them from discolouring when getting them ready for baking or fresh fruit salad. May also soak wrinkled apples in a lightly salted cool water solution to perk them up.

Cooking

If a pie bubbles over in your oven, put a handful of salt on top of the spilled juice. The mess won’t smell and it will bake into a dry, light crust that will wipe off easily when the oven has cooled. When boiling eggs, add a little salt to the water so that if an egg cracks, the salt will help to keep the white inside the eggshell; also works well for keeping the whites together when poaching eggs. Add a pinch of salt when beating egg whites to make them fluffier. Add a tiny pinch of salt to whipping cream to make it whip more quickly.

Put a few grains of rice in your salt shaker to keep the salt from clogging up the holes. Soak fish in salt water before descaling and the scales will come off easier. Add chunks of raw potatoes to stews or soups that are too salty and after a few minutes, remove the potatoes and discard; the potatoes help soak up the excess salt. To set gelatin salads and desserts quickly, place over ice that has been sprinkled with salt. A pinch of salt improves the flavour of cocoa. Add a pinch of salt to homemade icings to prevent them from sugaring. Before removing the scales from a fish, soak it in salt water and the job will be much easier.

Cleaning

Sprinkle salt in milk-scorched pans to remove odour. Sprinkle salt on raw eggs dropped on the floor to easily clean up the spill. After a wine spill, immediately cover the spill with salt and later you can rinse out the stain in cool water. Mix 1 teaspoon of salt to 4 teaspoon of alcohol and apply to grease stains on clothing to remove them. Mix equal parts salt with lemon juice and lightly scrub to remove light mildew.. Clean tarnished brass and copper with paste made of salt and vinegar, thickened with a bit of flour, rinse and dry well.

Use salt to clean your discoloured coffee pot. While still hot, sprinkle a mixture of salt and cinnamon to remove offensive odours from your stove burners and oven and sprinkle a bit more salt in your oven before scrubbing clean. To prevent wicker furniture from yellowing, lightly scrub with a stiff brush, and warm saltwater and allow to dry in the sun. Soak enamel pans in salt water overnight and boil salt water in them next day to remove burned-on stains. Easily clean greasy pans with a paper towel and salt (do not use on Teflon coated pans).

Miscellaneous

Gently rub on a thin paste of salt and salad oil with your fingers to removes white marks on wooden tables caused by hot dishes or water, let stand for 1 hour and then buff off with a soft cloth. Salt tossed on a grease fire on the stove or in the oven will smother flames (never use water as it will only spatter the burning grease). Rub your fingers with salt moistened with vinegar or lemon juice to remove onion or garlic odours from your hands. To rid your garden of snails and slugs, pour salt on them and watch them disappear.

Sprinkle salt on your shelves to keep ants away. If a garment is ruined because of perspiration stains, try to remove them by this method; add four tablespoons of salt to one quart of hot water and sponge the fabric with the solution until stains disappear. To drip proof your new candles, soak them in a strong salt solution for 2-3 hours and then thoroughly dry them before lighting. Throw a handful of salt on the flames in your fireplace to help loosen soot from the chimney and make a bright yellow flame.

Kids Play Salt Dough

Here is a wonderful recipe that I have had for a long time for kids and adults to make creative projects with:

• 4 cups flour
• 1 cup plain salt
• 1 ½ cups of warm water
• Optional: add in ¼ cup of liquid tempra paint (food colouring) to colour that batch of dough

Stir the salt into the warm water, stir in the flour until all of it is absorbed, then knead for a few minutes until very smooth. Until using, cover the dough ball tightly with plastic wrap or put in a plastic bag. Form your designs and place on a cookie sheet.

Bake in a 325 degrees oven for an hour or two or until the forms are hard and not soft at all. Cool completely and then paint or use coloured markers. To keep your project for a long time you should paint it with a couple of coats of lacquer, drying completely between each coat… You should use up all dough in one day.