Salt containers

[annarborfoodie]

My sister-in-law is a potter. For my birthday this year, I asked her to make a salt cellar for me. She didn't know what that was, so I sent her some links to photos on the web. She came up with this:

I love it - I hadn't asked for the spoon, but she decided it needed one. Now she's planning on adding them to her repertoire.

[andiesenji]

That is simply adorable. When will they be available?

I "collect" varieties of salt so naturally I need things in which to put them.

Here are a few: The glass one is part of a set of early 1930s kitchen utility glassware that includes ice box/refrigerator dishes, a covered grease jar and round butter plate and cover. I use the little wooden dish when I need to measure small amounts exactly.

The yellow plastic container is an old Tupperware sugar dispenser, which is great for salt too - I have five, all found at yard sales for about 25¢ each. I do have some English pottery salt pigs but they are old and I don't use them.

One of my friends has a wall-mounted salt dispenser that she bought in Denmark (white with "SALT" in blue letters so I assume it is the same in Danish as in English) that is much like a ground coffee dispenser - it has a little detachable cup at the bottom and a lever that dispenses about a tablespoon of salt. I have unsuccessfully tried to find one for my collection.

Edited July 9, 2007 by andiesenji (log)

[hummingbirdkiss]

I have been living in a hole! I never knew there were this many options to put salt in!!!

.. .I keep it in the box/container it comes in on the counter and pour it out into my hand when I need it ... or put it in a tiny dish to serve it on the table and we pinch it out or use a tiny spoon with company..

I think I need to buy a cellar/container or something of some kind now! so I dont feel like a such kitchen heathen!

[sparrowgrass]

I use a salt pig, and have never noticed any foreign objects in my salt.

I keep a plastic tablespoon in the pig, because seems like my hands are always wet when I need some salt.

No clumping in the salt pig, even with our Missouri humidity.

[larrylee]

Regarding whether or not it's safe to "double dip" in salt...

Keep in mind that salt curing has been used for "a very long time" precisely to kill germs and preserve food. That doesn't mean that we should necessarily be dipping our chicken-y hands into our salt cellars without a thought... for example, using that same salt to season a finished dish before it goes to the table... But I don't think we have to worry about the proliferation of germs within our salt containers.

[jgarner53]

Add me to the list of owners of the AB salt cellar. Mine's even signed! (under the lid)

[Dianabanana]

I keep mine in a white porcelain ramekin, covered by the white porcelain lid from a broken Chinese tea mug. I only fill it halfway, so it only has a few weeks before it gets empty, then it goes through the dishwasher. I stick my fingers right in there, but I'm a pretty compulsive handwasher. I'm careful not to get garlicky fingers in it, because that's a nasty surprise the next morning in your pancakes. Even so, I usually get the package of salt out when baking, just to be safe.

[Kent Wang]

I've always used salt cellars but I wonder if a shaker would be easier to use, as you can use just one hand.

This Norpro adjustable shaker looks ideal and has good reviews on Amazon.

[LBNoble]

I use 2 of those generic glass jars that pizzerias use for red peppers (i also have different sea salts in their original containers)they're on the side of the stove w/ 3 pepper mills-2 black, 1 white. Szechuan peppercorns are in a plastic container in the cupboard.

[andiesenji]

I've always used salt cellars but I wonder if a shaker would be easier to use, as you can use just one hand.

This Norpro adjustable shaker looks ideal and has good reviews on Amazon.

Since I last posted in this thread in 2007, I have added a couple of salt cellars to my collection and also bought three or four of these Norpro shakers. They do "leak" a bit with very fine salt, if your turn them over and shake to loosen clumped salt. (And also cinnamon, because I use one for my cinnamon/sugar mix).

They are also handy for other things that are used for "dusting" - one holds cornstarch and another powdered sugar (with a couple of the SecaPac desiccant thingys to keep that from clumping).

This is a good price, they were 12.99 when I bought mine. I actually bought five - and am now wondering where I put the other one... Must be a "senior" moment...

In any event, I ALWAYS have a spoon (or more than one) in the salt cellars - as you can see in the photo on the previous page. DO NOT LEAVE AN ALUMINUM OR OTHER METAL SPOON in the salt - it will pit it - take my word for it, I speak from personal experience. I have had salt eat through the bottom of an aluminum salt shaker that was not emptied before it was put into storage. Plastic measuring spoons are CHEAP and with one right in the container, you don't have to look for one when you need it.

Edited December 22, 2013 by andiesenji (log)