Surprising and Unexpected Uses for Salt

Sodium chloride, commonly known as salt, is one of the most important minerals known to man. Absolutely essential for life on Earth, salt is one of the oldest and most commonly used food seasonings of them all, used since ancient times to bring out the full flavors of different ingredients, as well as for preserving food too. Historians and archaeologists have found evidence of salt being used as far back as 6,000 BC, and it’s an essential nutrient for human health too.

But as well as sprinkling salt over our dishes and adding a little bit to our recipes to liven up the foods we eat, salt has many other surprising and unexpected uses. You might be surprised to learn all the different things you can do with salt around the home, and it can help you with all kinds of daily chores and time-consuming tasks. Read on to learn some amazing uses for salt that might change the way you live.

Block Ants From Entering Your Home

Sadly, a lot of homeowners have to deal with ants in their property at some time or another, especially in the warm summer months when ants are drawn inside through open windows or gaps under doors, attracted to sweet smells from inside the home. Dealing with them can be incredibly difficult, and even the best ant-busting products sometimes fail to eliminate an infestation, so why not make use of salt instead?

Ants, like a lot of other bugs and creepy crawlies, absolutely hate salt. If they see it, they’ll steer clear of it. Many homeowners have used this to their advantage, sprinkling lines of salt along doors and windows to act as a barrier against ants. If you place some salt along your doors, skirting boards, or anywhere else ants are likely to roam, you can stop them getting into your place.

Clean Your Iron

You probably clean most things in your home like the toilet, the kitchen counters, the floors, and the various items of furniture, but some things seem much harder to clean than others. Irons, for example, are notoriously difficult to clean. Depending on how you use them, irons can develop marks and stains from water, steam, or something melting on the hot surface, and it can be super difficult to remove those pesky problems.

Luckily, when you need to clean your iron, salt can prove to be your best friend. All you have to do is sprinkle some salt over some newspaper and place that on the ironing board. Next, turn the iron on and rub it over the salty paper. The salt works to rub away any lumps, bumps, and marks on the surface of the iron.

Remove Stubborn Wine Stains

Red wine is one of the world’s favorite alcoholic drinks, perfect for relaxing in the evening after a long day or savoring with your partner over a romantic dinner for two, but it’s also one of the worst culprits when it comes to carpet stains! If you spill red wine, you might start to panic, worrying that the stain will never come out, but there’s no need to worry, as long as you have a little salt in the house.

If you spill any red wine, pour a little white wine over the top to dilute it and help the color fade away, then scrub at the area with a wet sponge to wipe away as much of the stain as possible. Then, sprinkle on some salt and leave it for around 10-15 minutes. The salt actually absorbs the wine, and can then be vacuumed up once it’s dry.

Cool Drinks Quickly

Let’s say you’re planning a party with some buddies, and you just went to the store to grab some drinks. The party is close to starting and you want your drinks to be nice and cool for your guests, but the fridge isn’t fast enough to chill them down. How do you do it? Well, most people would simply toss the bottles or cans into a bucket of ice and hope for the best, but in most cases, this doesn’t act fast enough to really chill the drinks.

This is where salt comes in! Due to a unique chemical reaction, if you sprinkle some salt into your bucket of ice and cold water, it will become way more effective at chilling down the drinks. In less than a minute, your bottles and cans will be super frosty, ready to refresh your guests and ensure your party goes great.

Test Your Eggs for Freshness

Everyone loves eggs, whether poached, boiled, scrambled, or fried, but one of the common issues people face with eggs is that you can never quite be sure how fresh they are until you actually crack them open and see inside. There has to be a better way of figuring out how fresh your eggs really are, right? Well, yes, there is, and it involves salt once again.

The trick here is to make a bowl of water and add a couple of tablespoons of salt. Then place the eggs into the water and see whether they sink or float. A fresh egg will sink to the bottom, while a bad egg will float on top. An egg that’s not super fresh but still okay to eat will hover somewhere in the middle.