Consumer Salt Tips

In America and around the world, people use salt every day to enhance the taste of their food. But many don’t realize that salt has over 14,000 uses around the home, in the garden, and for health and beauty purposes. Before the advent of modern chemicals and cleaners, salt was used for all kinds of purposes: it was known as an effective cleaner, antiseptic, pesticide, and all around handy tool. Even today, there are plenty of great ways to put common household salt to use; even these great resources are only an introduction. Not only is salt versatile, it’s 100% natural and can usually be used to replace chemicals that could be abrasive, noxious, or even poisonous.

 Kitchen

Extraordinary Uses for Salt Around the House: Reader’s Digest listing of dozens of uses for salt, including for cooking, cleaning, home maintenance, first aid, gardening, and many more.

Curing and Smoking Meats for Home Food Preservation: Detailed discussion of salt curing for preserving meats, as well as other methods of curing.

Chemistry in the Kitchen: Science class activity that discusses, among other things, the ability of salt to put out fires in the kitchen.

Salt and Boiling Water: Detailed and practical introduction to the effects of salt on water, and using salt to raise water’s boiling point.

Six Creative Ways to Use Salt in the Home: More on cooking, gardening, preserving, and other great uses of common table salt.

Consumer Tips for Salt Use: Over 70 uses of salt for cleaning, seasoning, and beauty.

Sixty One Uses for Salt: From the libraries of Duke University, scanned full-text of an illustrated guide to cooking, baking, first aid, and bathing uses of common salt. Written in the early 1900s.

Uses of NaCL: Resources on various uses of salt, including health, home, and industrial applications.

Cleaning

Clean and Green: Use of salt and other natural items around the home for a variety of cleaning projects, including glass, drains, shower heads, fixtures, stains, and more.

Getting Clothes Clean: Overview with information on salt’s use as a water softener.

Vinegar and Salt Cleaners for Brass: Traditional, low-cost, and natural way of cleaning brass with salt.

Do’s and Don’t of a Green Cleaning: More “green cleaning” tips using salt and a variety of other safe products for toilets, ovens, copper, chrome, and other fixtures and surfaces that can be tough to clean.

Clean Drains Without Chemicals: Drain cleaning, odor removal, and clog control using salt, baking soda, and more.

Safer Alternatives: Kitchen and Laundry: Salt for pest control and a variety of cleaning jobs. From the Oregon Toxics Alliance, an ecological community organization.

60 Uses of Salt: List of home salt uses from Sharing Sustainable Solutions, a nonprofit, noncommercial environmental community that also includes plenty of other tips and suggestions on living a “green” lifestyle.

20 Surprising Uses for Salt: Verified resources on salt use from the Librarians’ Internet Index.

Cleaning With Salt: Detailed information on using salt to combat a variety of difficult stains.

Health and Beauty

Uses of Salt for Beauty, Health, and Household: Information from the nonprofit Salt Institute providing a huge variety of uses for salt, including plenty of unexpected tips for health and beauty, and many other subjects.

Salt Water Baths: Detailed article on the health benefits of salt water baths.

History of Salt Therapy: Detailed information on how the body uses salt and the possible health benefits of salt replenishment.

Care of the Mouth and Teeth: Facts about dental health including the benefits and importance of salt water rinse and gargling.

Types of Tattoo Removal: Information on different kinds of tattoo removal, including salabrasion, which uses a salt substance to remove affected skin.

Other Uses

Flea Control: All about flea control, including the use of salt to kill and repel fleas.

How to Kill Weeds Using Salt: Detailed article on salt use for lawn care and weed removal.

Uses of Salt Chart: Great chart showing the uses of salt in the home, in medicine, in agriculture, and in industry.

Use and Application of Salt in Aquaculture: All about the use of salt for the treatment of common ailments in fish and other uses related to the controlled keeping and breeding of fish. Useful for fish owners.

Using Salt for Livestock: Detailed article on the use of salt to manage livestock.

International Council for the Control of Iodine Deficiency: Background on the positive health implications of salt and its uses, with a focus on the importance of salt in preventing and treating iodine deficiency.

How to Change Wound Dressings: Instructions from the Cleveland Clinic on how to safely change a wound dressing, including details on the use of salt in order to make a saline solution.

Biblical Uses of Salt: Interesting article on the uses and concept of salt in ancient times, along with several applications that are still valid today.

Exploring the Historical Uses of Salt: Educational activity with an overview that includes some historical uses of salt.

Road Salt Use in the United States: In-depth article on the use of salt to remove ice and slush from roads in the United States, including facts, trends, and other information.

Environmental Literacy Council: Salt

Salt: The First Antibiotic: Overview of historical medicinal and health uses of salt.

The Salt Association: Professional organization of salt producers based in the UK. Offers information on the uses and benefits of salt as well as recent research and inquiries into new applications of salt.

Other Uses for Salt: A few quick points on unusual and little-known uses for salt.