Useful -- and surprising -- ways to use salt around the home.

 

Rubbing salt in your wound is only an expression. Don't do it.

  1. Enhance the flavour of your food -- duh.
  2. Use as an abrasive. Toss some salt onto a stubborn kitchen counter stain and scrub with a damp dishcloth.
  3. In the winter, de-ice the sidewalk when it freezes by tossing some salt on top of it. Wait 20 minutes and shovel your walk with ease.
  4. Sprinkle salt in areas where you have ants and watch them flee.
  5. Put a few grains of rice in your salt shaker to keep your salt from sticking together.
  6. If you've burned your food, scrape as much of the burn off as you can, cover with water, and add 1/2 cup of salt. Bring to a boil and continue boiling for 20 minutes. Remove pan from heat and let stand for 30 minutes before scrubbing.
  7. Add a pinch of salt to fresh-cut flowers to help them last a little longer.
  8. To remove the smell of garlic from your fingers, rub them with lemon juice and salt, then rinse and wash with soap.
  9. Fresh piercing? Use a simple saline (salt) solution of 1/2 cup warm water + 1 teaspoon of sea salt to soak your piercing in. It will speed up the healing process.
  10. Too many bubbles while you're doing the dishes? Sprinkle them with a pinch of salt and watch them disappear.
  11. Run out of toothpaste? Use equal parts of salt and baking soda (with a drop of peppermint extract if you like) instead. Dip your wet toothbrush in and brush away!
  12. If wine is spilled on a tablecloth or rug, blot up as much as possible and immediately cover with a generous amount of salt, then leave until dried. Vacuum up salt and rinse with cold water. The stain will (cross your fingers) be gone.
  13. A mixture of lemon juice and salt will remove mildew.
  14. Wet a bee sting immediately with water and cover it with salt.
  15. If your dish boils over onto the oven floor, sprinkle salt on top to stop smoke and odour. Once oven is cool, wipe spill away.
  16. Always salt your pasta water before cooking. It will enhance the pasta's flavour and you won't have to salt your dish when it's served. Adding oil to pasta cooking water is unnecessary as it will make your pasta slippery and your sauce won't stick.
  17. Remove stains from old teacups by rubbing with salt and a bit of water.
  18. Salt enhances sweetness, so add a pinch when making sweets like kettle corn or hot chocolate.
  19. A mixture of lemon juice and salt will remove rust stains.
  20. Remove odour from a cutting board by pouring a generous amount of salt directly on the board. Rub lightly with a damp cloth. Wash in warm, soapy water.
  21. If the juice from a fruit pie overflows while you're baking, sprinkle some salt onto the spill. It will burn to a crisp, making it easy to remove once the oven has cooled.
  22. For a sore throat, gargle with 1/2 cup warm water and 1/4 teaspoon salt.
  23. Stuffed up nose? Snort a solution of 1/4 cup warm water and 1/2 teaspoon of salt and then blow!
  24. Draw the bitterness out of chopped eggplant by salting. Let stand a few minutes and then rinse before cooking.
  25. Salt can be used as a skin softener. Throw 1/2 cup Epsom salt or sea salt into your bath water and you'll be smooth as a baby's bum when you get out.
  26. For a crispier skin on your baked potato, slather with olive oil and salt before baking.
  27. Make scented bath salts with a mixture of 1 cup Epsom salts, 1 cup baking soda, and 3-4 drops of your favourite essential oil.
  28. Sore feet? Soak them in a salt bath: 12 cups warm water, 2 tablespoons of salt, and 2 tablespoons of baking soda.
  29. Fill a nail hole with a mixture of 1 tablespoon of salt, 1 tablespoon of corn starch, and 2 teaspoons of water to make a thick paste. Fill hold. Let dry and sand if necessary.
  30. Wash dirty green vegetables such as spinach in a sink of mildly salted water to make them easier to clean.
  31. When adding flour to a recipe for thickening, stir flour with a pinch of salt to prevent lumps.
  32. A greasy pan will wash easier if you rub a little salt on it first. Wipe with a paper towel and then wash pan in hot soapy water.
  33. Toss salt on a grease fire. Never use water.
  34. Stinky thermos? Add salt and a little hot water. Cap, shake, and rinse. No more smell.
  35. Remove blood stains by soaking item in cold salt water, then wash in warm, soapy water and hope CSI doesn't knock on your door.
  36. Soothe aching muscles in a hot bath with some Epsom salts.
  37. Make your skin glow by rubbing it with equal parts olive oil and salt. (Please do this while standing in your bathtub.)
  38. Back in the day, Roman soldiers were paid in salt. So take a satchel of salt down to the store and see if it will buy you groceries.
  39. Pour salt into a vase to hold dried or artificial flowers in place.
  40. Salting water does not make it boil faster, but it does make it boil hotter, so your cooking time can be reduced.
  41. Soak older, wrinkled apples in mildly salted water to revive them.
  42. Keep sliced potatoes, apples or pears from browning by placing them in a bowl of mildly salted cold water.
  43. Salt can repel fleas, so dunk your dog in the ocean before you head home from your walk or give him a bath in some salt water.
  44. If you spill salt, throw a pinch over your shoulder to hit the devil in the eye.