10 Unusual Uses for Salt

by Karen N on Aug 15, 2008 with 32 Comments

Some interesting ways to use salt that you may not have thought of before.

  1. Do you love the smell of roses? Now you can have that scent year round without using artificial air fresheners. To make a rose air freshener try layering rose petals and salt in a glass jar with a tightly fitting lid. Then just remove the lid to freshen the air.

  2. Keep ants out of your home, just sprinkle salt across their path and the ants will be discouraged from going any further and you didn’t have to resort to using harmful pesticides.
  3. Shell hard boiled eggs easily, just add a teaspoon of salt to the water before boiling and you’ll have perfect eggs every time.
  4. Test an eggs freshness, add 1 teaspoon of salt to one cup of water and then float the egg in the water. A fresh egg will sink but an old one will float.
  5. Keep your salad crisp. After preparing your salad lightly salt it, and your salad will remain crisp for several hours afterwards.
  6. Keep your milk fresh, just add a pinch of salt to your jug of milk or cream for it to keep longer.
  7. Set the color in new towels, just add a cup of salt to the wash water the first couple of times that you wash them. This keep your towels bright much longer.
  8. Weed killer, boil one cup of salt to two cups of water and pour over the weeds to kill them.
  9. Revive wrinkled apples, add the apples to mildly salted water and watch the wrinkles disappear. It’s to bad that doesn’t work for people!
  10. Restore a sponge, just soak overnight in a solution of 1/4 cup of salt to one qt. of water to restore them to like new condition.
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  1. Lauren Axelrod | Aug 15, 2008 | Reply

    Really great uses for salt. And i thought you just use it for cooking. Great article Karen.

  2. Karen N | Aug 16, 2008 | Reply

    Thanks Lauren,the weed killer and one about the hard boiled eggs are my favorites:)

  3. Janie | Aug 16, 2008 | Reply

    Are you sure about the information in tip #4? Between Science classes and cooking in my own kitchen I’ve come to learn that the older an egg gets, the more air it takes in causing it to float as it gets older, when an egg is fresh there is no air inside and thus will sink straight to the bottom. Just to be sure I looked up the information that I have known to be true, and saw many of the same conclusions. You can find one here in the second section #2. This lady also uses salted water.
    http://aboutsinglewoman.com/1112/eggs-for-breakfast/

  4. janeyb | Aug 16, 2008 | Reply

    thanx Karen interesting article!!

  5. A Mehaffey | Aug 16, 2008 | Reply

    #4 is wrong. A fresh egg will sink. A very OLD egg will float
    *
    http://busycooks.about.com/od/quicktips/qt/testingeggs.htm

  6. Karen N | Aug 16, 2008 | Reply

    Tip # 4 came from my Grandma, I’ll have to check it out maybe something was lost in translation.

  7. Karen N | Aug 16, 2008 | Reply

    Thanks everyone for letting me know about the wrong info.
    The mistake was mine:) after all it’s just common sense that a new egg will sink. I’ve applied for a fix so hopefully the article will be corrected soon.

  8. Allison | Aug 16, 2008 | Reply

    ..who wants to eat salty milk or salad? It probably works well… but… gross!

  9. Karen N | Aug 16, 2008 | Reply

    A pinch of salt added to a gallon of milk will add no flavor. The same goes for lightly salting your salad, but I would imagine that these things will not work for people who are watching their salt intake.

  10. Peg | Aug 16, 2008 | Reply

    Lightly salting any vegetable wicks out the moisture. I’m not certain I understand why salting a salad will keep it fresh. Seems a bit odd.

  11. Mox | Aug 16, 2008 | Reply

    Awesome! Especially the air freshener. I’m going to try this next time I make it out of the city and back to the country.

    https://www.triond.com/users/mox

  12. CJ | Aug 16, 2008 | Reply

    Make a paste of salt and vinegar and put on bug bites. Takes the sting and itch right out.

  13. nobert soloria bermosa | Aug 16, 2008 | Reply

    interesting uses of salt,thanks

  14. Dr. Microbe | Aug 16, 2008 | Reply

    #8 will cause the land to not allow for any growth, not just weeds, bad Idea.

    #4 is wrong a bad egg floats because as it rots more gases are produced causing it to float.

    #5 & 6 will not work, as the level of salinity needed to deter bacterial growth would cause the milk / salad to become unpalatable.

    #2 only works if there is no breaks in the slat for the ants to walk around.

    Seems like a bunch of old wifes tales, and not very accurate at that.

  15. peter2210 | Aug 17, 2008 | Reply

    You aren’t quite right Microbe…The ants follow just one path, which is marked by the smell the founder of the path left for them. They do not think like us, and will not go around the salt..
    Karen said that she will fix #4. She didn’t say that #8 will make the land better for growing plants, she just said it will kill the weeds. You might need it for something else..

  16. CENTURY2000R | Aug 17, 2008 | Reply

    # 4 IS WRONG “A FRESH EGG SINKS” IF THE EGGS FLOATS IT BAD

  17. valli | Aug 18, 2008 | Reply

    Useful info.

  18. Chris A Stonecipher | Aug 18, 2008 | Reply

    Thanks for sharing. My wife uses salt as a weed killer, however she does not add water.

  19. Sun Meilan | Aug 18, 2008 | Reply

    I’m going to try the weedkiller one – I have any amount of weeds growing between slabs along my path, so if it works, that will be great! Thanks.

  20. Serina | Aug 18, 2008 | Reply

    very nice, very well done.

  21. Dumbass | Aug 19, 2008 | Reply

    You can use salt for cooking too !!!

  22. Deanna | Aug 19, 2008 | Reply

    Also, if you get eggs off a farm (like your own or from a friend or something) if it floats there is a baby inside. I know this from first hand experience…one egg floated and we cracked it open to see why it floated and there was a baby in it.
    Great article BTW!

  23. sean durham | Aug 19, 2008 | Reply

    now that’s interesting and very useful, I was in a restaurant tonight and the salad was full of salt – I think I know why now!
    I’ve always tested eggs with just water, if they sink,I eat em. I wonder if I would’ve been better off with salt in the water.

  24. Lauren Axelrod | Aug 19, 2008 | Reply

    Karen I am so sorry about your troll at #21.

    http://www.writinghood.com/Online-Writing/Is-There-an-Overabundance-of-Trolls-on-Triond.210905

    Shameless plug I know. Have a great Karen.

  25. Karen N | Aug 20, 2008 | Reply

    Thanks Lauren,
    I did read your article, and it’s very good.
    In fact everyone should take a look at it.
    There you go, another plug:)

  26. dani | Aug 20, 2008 | Reply

    think it’s already been done like a year ago! still good :D

  27. Tim | Aug 28, 2008 | Reply

    When you spill wine on a carpet, if you are quick enough, you can get all of the wine out by pouring lots of salt over the offending patch. Works a treat. I am speaking from personal experience.

    Thanks for the article.

    Tim

  28. Karen N | Aug 28, 2008 | Reply

    Thanks Tim,
    I’ll have to remember that one.

  29. penny golding | Sep 7, 2008 | Reply

    Thanks Karen, I too like the one about the weeds…I must try that one. I can remember when I was young, my dad had drowed a fly in a cup of water, then he placed the fly on a napkin and had poured salt over him (or her) presto! The fly came back to life… also I use it when I feel a sore throat coming on…

  30. Rich O | Sep 12, 2008 | Reply

    From experience with stains & odor in carpet, the last thing you want to do is apply salt. You\’ll never remove it all entirely and in time will eat the binder and ruin the carpet.

  31. The Old Firm | Dec 15, 2008 | Reply

    For those of you with fireplaces or “Wood burners”, if you have a chimney fire, dumping salt on the fire in the grate or firebox usually extinguishes it. I’ve done it. It works.

  32. dale kaup | Feb 7, 2009 | Reply

    Sprinkle salt into your skillet after it’s heated and before putting in eggs or potatoes or meat. It’ll keep the food from sticking! Works like u wouldn’t believe.

  33. Ignorance Police | Mar 7, 2009 | Reply

    Some of you people need to read things more carefully before you post your negative comments. Case in point: #4. There is nothing incorrect about the way it is written, yet several of you misread the posting and seized the chance to criticize someone.

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