Salt containers

[Big Bunny]

I use a small shaker designed for parmesan cheese.  I rarely measure salt when I cook but I can grab the box of Kosher salt or unscrew the lid when I do measure out salt.  I think I paid all of $2 for it at Wal-Mart.

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Ditto to the letter, except I got mine at a sidewalk sale. It pairs nicely with the restaurant-style sugar shaker I keep sugar in.

BB

[Bella S.F.]

I use a squat, flat mason jar with a spring lid (with one of those rubber sealers around the lid.) It has a nice sized opening on the top which makes it is easy to get my hand in and grab what I want. I also like the fact that it is completely covered so that it does not get unidentified flying objects in it.

If I am seasoning meat, I try to only touch the meat with one hand and use the other hand for getting the salt and sprinkling it where I want it. If I know that I will need both hands for the meat, I put some of the salt in a small bowl so that I won't contaminate the rest of the salt. It drives me crazy when I watch people on cooking show working with the meat, then they stick their hands in a large bowl of salt, and then they use the pepper grinder. All without washing their hands. Yeh... I would really like to use that pepper mill to grind some pepper on my salad after that.

[menon1971]

I keep mine in a small 18th C. repro stoneware bowl that was bought at a scratch and dent sale. I have yet to note much schmutz. Also, bear in mind that most living organisms need water to survive and salt usually dessicates the little nasty things like it does when curing a ham.

Edited July 5, 2007 by menon1971 (log)

[moosnsqrl]

Mine is similar to this. It has a hinged lid so I can at least keep some of the flotsam and jetsam out when I'm not in a cooking frenzy.

[Octaveman]

I have the large salt box from Totally Bamboo. It's awesome. The sliding top keeps it covered and is easy to open with one hand to get the salt. The large one was my preference as it's not TOO big and it holds plenty more salt than the small one.

[merrybaker]

I use a crock from Pommery mustard. It's heavy, dishwasher proof, holds a lot, and has a wide opening. I keep a plastic spoon inside to keep it clean.

[prasantrin]

I use a pink tupperware-like container with tulips on the lid for my fine sea salt, a yellow tupperware-like container with tulips on the lid for coarse sea salt, and a red Hello Kitty tupperware-like container for my kosher salt (these were all purchased years ago when I was on a very tight budget, and even though I can afford better containers now, I quite like them!).

I mostly just use the Hello Kitty kosher salt one for my neti pot, not for cooking, though.

[Jmahl]

I use a crock from Pommery mustard.  It's heavy, dishwasher proof, holds a lot, and has a wide opening.  I keep a plastic spoon inside to keep it clean.

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Like Merrybaker I use a French mustard crock with a wooden salt spoon (that's what I call it). I don't worry about covering. If something falls into the salt it dies and is salted away.

Jmahl

[Marlene]

I use a salt box that I bought in Barcelona. I really wish I'd bought two now. I have this one up at my cottage, but I'll take it home at end of season, because the one I use at home is wooden, with a swing lid which is much harder to manage one-handed.

This one holds a lot of salt and it has a flip up lid for ease of use. I keep this filled with kosher salt for cooking. I just reach in a grab a pinch when I need it. I keep my Maldon Salt in a glass container with an air tight lid that sits on the table for usage.

[Rebecca263]

We use the sawed off top of a coconut. Even after 6 years or so of use, the surfaces are very nice to the touch.

[I_call_the_duck]

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Purty!

I keep my kosher salt in a Morton's salt tin box with a flip lid. It's big enough for Mr. Duck's hand. I just dip right in, but Mr. Duck uses the little wooden spoon.

No pretty container for the sea salt.

[LittleLea]

I keep my maldon salt in one of Alton Browns cellars. Works perfectly for me. It gets really humid here so if I were to try to keep it in anything uncovered it would most likely clump.

[Bond Girl]

I just keep it in a random glass jar with a little caviar spoon in it to keep it clean.

[Marigene]

I use an old berry bowl that sits on the stove for my kosher salt. That way I can add a pinch when needed.

[dhdav66]

We use a maple salt cellar that we bought from Crate and Barrel. When we're cooking, we just dump some salt into a prep bowl to dip out.

[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)