Salt, scientifically known as sodium chloride, has over 14,000 known uses. We won't cover all 14,000 of them, but I can tell you it’s widely used as a preservative as well as being used for healing, fertilizing, cleaning and making medicines, dyes, cheeses and plastics.
Over the centuries there have even been roads constructed solely to transport salt and there have even been wars fought over this precious commodity. This substance will easily dissolve in water and reappear when the water is evaporated.
1) Algae
Seaweed salt is a delicacy hand-harvested in the estuaries of the great French rivers as they flow into the sea in Brittany. While Fleur de sel, which is produced in the Camargue, is the caviar of the salt world.
2) Bible
The origins of salt date back thousands of years; it is mentioned in the Bible in connection with Lot’s wife who was transformed into a salt statue because she turned to look at the city of Sodom.
3) Champagne
A little tip to keep your champagne well chilled for longer: add a few spoonfuls of coarse salt to the ice in the bucket.
4) Deposits
Apart from sea salt, which is produced in salt pans, salt is extracted from mines: the oldest ones are in Eastern Europe, but they are to be found throughout the continent as well as in Pakistan, USA and Canada.
5) Edible
Table salt must be used sparingly: it is poisonous when consumed in large quantities, so much so that in China it used to be a way of committing suicide.
6) Flavoured
Fine or coarse, salt is available as a pure product or aromatized with the addition of spices and flowers, as well as being smoked to give a more robust flavour to food.
7) Goderich
Goderich in Ontario boasts the largest underground salt mine in the world; it extends for 5 kilometres beneath Lake Huron.
8) Himalaya
One of the most precious varieties in the world is the pink rock salt to be found in the Himalayan mountains. It is said to be the purest in the world and the only type of salt to contain 84 minerals and trace elements.
9) India
The exquisite black Indian salt (kala namak) comes from volcanic rocks. It is used extensively in masala dishes and is often sprinkled on fruit.
10) Japanese theatres
In Japanese theatres, it used to be customary, before each performance to throw salt on the stage to drive evil spirits away.
11) Kiln
To make perfect fish baked in a salt crust, it must be covered with a layer of at least 1.5 centimetres to form a sort of kiln around the food.
12) Remove watermarks from wood
Watermarks left from glasses or bottles on a wood table really stand out. Make them disappear by mixing 1 teaspoon salt with a few drops of water to form a paste. Gently rub the paste onto the ring with a soft cloth or sponge and work it over the spot until it’s gone. Restore the luster of your wood with furniture polish.
13) Millenary
Salt is thought to have existed before any form of primitive track: animals used to lick the salty earth and create trails which, down through the centuries, became the roads of today.
14) Deodorize your sneakers
Sneakers and other canvas shoes can get pretty smelly, especially if you wear them without socks in the summertime. Knock down the odor and soak up the moisture by occasionally sprinkling a little salt in your canvas shoes.
15) Ounces
The human body contains from 4 to 6 ounces of salt; its function is to control blood volume, as well as regulating digestion and nerve fibres.
16) Pay
The word 'salary' still exists today; it derives from the fact that ancient Romans were paid in salt provisions instead of money.
17) End the ant parade
If ants are beating a path to your home, intercept them by sprinkling salt across the door frame or directly on their paths. Ants will be discouraged from crossing this barrier.
18) Restaurant ban
In 2010 in New York, a draft bill caused quite a stir: a one thousand dollar fine payable by any restaurant adding salt to its dishes.
19) Erase tea and coffee stains
Tea and coffee leave stains on cups and in pots. You can easily scrub away these unattractive rings by sprinkling salt onto a sponge and rubbing in little circles across the ring. If the stain persists, mix white vinegar with salt in equal proportions and rub with the sponge.
20) Speed up cooking time
In a hurry? Add a pinch or two of salt to the water you are boiling food in. This makes the water boil at a higher temperature so the food you are cooking will require less time on the stovetop. Keep in mind: Salt does not make the water boil faster.
21) Unlucky
Dropping salt is believed to bring bad luck because, in ancient times, it was as precious as gold. To drive away the evil eye, however, a pinch of salt is thrown over the shoulder Visitors The little island of Laeso, Denmark, with less than two thousand inhabitants, is visited by 60,000 tourists each year who arrive just to see where its salt comes from, the most expensive in the world.
22) Revive wrinkled apples
Do your apples need a face-lift? Soak them in mildly salted water to make the skin smooth again.
23) X-numbers of use
Precious and eclectic, salt is used in an infinite number of ways: those trying to count them have exceeded 14,000.
24) Keep your milk fresh
Add a pinch of salt to a carton of milk to make it stay fresh longer. Works for cream too.
25) Prevent mold on cheese
Cheese is much too expensive to throw away because it has become moldy. Prevent the mold by wrapping the cheese in a napkin soaked in salt water before storing it in the refrigerator.
26) Fire extinguisher
Keeping salt in your kitchen will help you in a non-cooking crisis too, said Klinge. It can be used to extinguish a grease fire: pour salt on top; never use water.
27) Rotten Eggs
You can use salt to test for rotten eggs: put an egg in a cup of salty water. A fresh egg will sink; a spoiled egg will float.
28) Kill weeds
Use salt outside as a weed killer. Sprinkle salt on the grass growing in cracks in the cement or between bricks; then pour hot water over it.
29) Cleaning
An iron with rough or sticky spots on its surface can be cleaned by running it, set at low, over a piece of paper with salt on it. You can also remove a fresh grease spot on the fabric by covering it with salt. Wait for the salt to absorb the grease, then gently brush the salt away. Repeat until the spot is gone, then launder as usual. You can also rub salt onto a fresh ink stain on fabric, and soak the fabric overnight in milk. Wash the fabric as usual.
30) Tooth paste and tooth ache medicine
By simply adding salt into warm water you would have made yourself some effective home-made toothpaste which you can use to floss your teeth. This same 'toothpaste' can be used as pain killer when you have some nagging tooth ache.
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30 shocking facts you didn't know about salt: It can be used to commit suicide
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