Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with Salt

can a block of salt really clean the air?

longsleeves — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 15:24:56 -0800

Will my new Himalayan salt block lamp really clean the air? For a living room night light, I bought a small lamp that consists of a seven or eight pound block of translucent pinkish-orange salt that was mined from deep underground in the foothills of the Himalayas. It sits on a wood base and is lit by a small candelabra bulb which is inserted in a space hollowed out from the bottom. These lamps are sold by various internet outlets, with various claims of beneficial properties. I don't put much credence in the more fantastic sales points I read while shopping for the best price, such as it eradicating "destructive negative energy" put out by computers and other electronics, or the that because the mineral deposit formed 250 million years ago when the earth was all pure and clean means it will cast positive feng shui over the living space.

I do wonder, though, about the assertion that when heated by the light bulb, the salt will attract and then split water molecules in the air and thus release negative ions that will bond with positively charged particles of various pollutants in the air and cause them to drop out of the air and give the room the same freshness that you notice outside following a thunderstorm. Will this lamp really purify the air to any degree? Is there any truth to that?

For the love of the Subaru!

Cold Lurkey — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 18:50:54 -0800

Are there any preventative measures, leaving aside driving the car every day, that will prevent my brakes from rusting like mad? So the dear Subaru wagon has gone into the shop to get what, originally, I thought, was at least one rear brake caliper replaced... Actually, it's the whole rear brake shooting match (rotors, brakes, calipers) that needs to be replaced. The shop-guy barely contained his astonishment.
The formula, as I see it, that led to this fairly pricey repair is the following:
A 1993 Subaru, driven ~100 miles a month, sits idle on Chicago streets otherwise... pining... + most of its driving, and certainly all of its sitting time is during the winter, when all the road surfaces are extremely salted down and thus when she's not sitting, pining, she's careening through a corrosive bath, however joyously. All this sitting, plus corrosive moisture = completely rusted brakes.
Aside from driving the damn thing more regularly –which I'll try to do, but that's essentially a lifestyle issue– is there any other tip or best practice that you can recommend for to prevent this infernal corrosion? for this or for any other car?
–there is another car in the household but it is but a honda, and I care not for it like I do the Subaru. The honda also has the sitting issue, and has started to get the brake wubbies.

Living in Salt Lake City during ski season

Calloused_Foot — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 14:44:39 -0800

I want to spend Jan-Apr of the 2010 season snowboarding in the Salt Lake City resorts. Can you guys help me figure out where to live in SLC (three months at a resort is just too much $$, and plus I'd like to be able to get away from the mountain on the days I don't ride) , and the best way to go about securing a place? There's really only two things I really need (that I can think of right away) as far as the apartment is concerned:
1) Must be on one of the bus routes that heads up to Snowbird/Solitude/Brighton (I don't care about Alta obviously). This part is non-negotiable, simply because I know it's anywhere from a 45-60min ride up to the mountain, and I am so not a morning person - I need to be able to stumble a couple of blocks to the bus stop after getting ready. Also, since my driving skills are non-existent (no driver's license - this was why Denver and the Colorado resorts were eliminated from consideration), acquiring a car is not an option.
2) Basic amenities (groceries, laundry, restaurants, bars) should be within an easy bike ride (I'll find a beater on craigslist), or short bus ride away, again because of the no car requirement. Walking distance would be nice, if possible.

I've been told by my airport shuttle driver (I was out there at the end of the season in April) I should look in Cottonwood Heights, and that rents for a studio or 1BR would run from about $750-900 a month, and that finding something short term should not be a problem. Is this where I should be looking? What other neighborhoods should I be aware of? Of course I'm going to be looking on craigslist for a place, but are there any real estate brokers I should know about? What other things do I need to know?

The Joy of Nasal Rinsing

Toekneesan — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 11:20:21 -0800

What do you put in your Neti Pot? I'm tired of paying >$9 for 50 small packets of salt. I'd like to make my own but I'm wondering about recipes. If you use a Neti Pot, do you make your own rinse? If so, what do you add? Does it ever change— during cold or allergy season, for example? Anything beyond salt and baking soda? What ratios do you use? Bonus points for bulk recipes.

How can I make salt adhere to my macadamias?

Effigy2000 — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 18:26:11 -0800

I love Macadamias as a snack every now and then. I'd prefer to buy the natural, non-roasted macadamias from the health food aisle, but these don't come salted, and I like a little salt with my macadamias. How can I salt them myself, and more importantly, how can I make the salt adhere to the macadamias without using any oil? I want to avoid making the nuts any fattier than they already are.

What are the true risks associated with eating a greasy meal?

hungrysquirrels — Sat, 21 Feb 2009 09:39:42 -0800

What are the true cardiovascular risks associated with eating a greasy meal? Out of curiosity, over the last couple of years I've seen many people comment on various sites about the so called heart attack inducing food that Americans are eating these days. Bacon, 'Hungry Man' dinners, and oversized hamburgers are often involved. Generally things that are greasy.

I understand how arteries can clog, but my assumption is that it would take a fairly long time of eating fatty foods for clogging to become a problem. So, the question is, could a single non-healthy meal induce cardiovascular distress, or is this an internet meme? How quickly does an unhealthy greasy meal get into the bloodstream?

Not looking for a thorough explanation, just whether it's possible.

Taking grains of salt seriously

jammy — Mon, 26 Jan 2009 06:46:36 -0800

SaltFilter: Looking for a good book or online resource that helps one calculate the amount of salt in various kinds of food - down to the grain if possible. I've googled a bit & found a few things but I'm looking here for personal recommendations (i.e., a book that you found helpful, well-written, clearly laid-out, etc.). Thanks.

Best message board for Cooking Questions?

TigerCrane — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 12:55:19 -0800

Best message board for an aspiring cook? I'm looking for a message board that's a good place to ask newbie questions about cooking.

These would be food science type questions. A few examples:

Why does Alton Brown always use kosher salt?

Should you salt before or after sauteing? Whats the difference?

Why does Julia Child use wax paper when poaching?

If you leave meat in a brine too long, what happens?

Any suggestions?

Approach this question with a grain of salt. Or hell, a whole tablespoon.

curagea — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 14:19:51 -0800

Salty questions: salty drinks, and non-iodized salts and health effects. First question: I'm a salt freak. I can't get enough of it. I also get thirsty fairly often, but then the solution is either water/tea, or sugary drinks, and I'm no sweets fan. So what better solution that salty drinks?

Googling for "salty drinks" revealed results for salty cocktails and spirits, but I don't drink alcohol. Nor is dumping a salt capsule in a water bottle very, uh, savory. So fellow salt-lovers, what non-alcoholic liquidy options do I have besides soups? What can I carry around in a bottle and drink to my pleasure anywhere I go? Restaurant recommendations, simple recipes, and grab-and-go are welcome.

(Yeah, I know the idea of a "salty drink" may seem contradictory, and too much sodium is bad, but damn, drinking plain water/tea gets, well, boring...)

Second question: I researched iodine and its benefits to human health, and wondered if I'm getting enough, or if it's even a concern here in the US. I don't eat out much, so my only prominent sources of salt is homemade stuff, and I only have kosher (non-iodized) salt and soy sauce. I do buy sliced ham/salami and cheese sometimes for making sandwiches, but they're not consumed every day. Maybe once every one or two weeks I'll eat instant ramen, which, as you may all know, tend to contain a bitchload of sodium.

So, am I getting enough iodine? Should this even be a concern? Even my mom uses non-iodized (sea) salt in her cooking starting from maybe 4 years ago, so I can't count on her cooking for this mineral.

Is there anything like Salt or Duke's Center for Doc Studies in the Mid-Atlantic region?

melodykramer — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 21:11:01 -0800

Is there anything like Salt or Duke's Center for Doc Studies in the Mid-Atlantic region?

Chocolate Salty Balls of Truffle

Jupiter Jones — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 09:10:51 -0800

So my wife is going as Chef to the Rock Star themed potluck I previously asked about. Now we have to come up with a recipe for Chocolate Salty Balls. Anyone have a recipe for a sort of insanely good trufflely chocolate ball that we can lightly coat in some good salt? What would be a good salt to use? I've been looking online for an actual recipe inspired by South Park, but the ingredients listed in the song itself are very vague (2 bags of sugar?!?) and lack salt. Others, like this one, seem... dubious. However, they match the version that Isaac Hayes put into his cookbook.

We'll probably give that a stab, but I think that making an insanely good chocolate truffle and rolling it in some really good fleur de sel or something would be even better than graham crackers and corn syrup.

So, does anyone have any advice on a really really great chocolate truffle recipe, and also a really good salt that we could use to put on it? I'm sure the combination would work, as chocolate covered pretzels are awesome.

Supermarket Salt Lick?

Tube — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 16:24:00 -0800

Are salt licks sold in supermarkets? I have a childhood memory of being in Buttrey's supermarket in Missoula, Montana in the late 1960's and seeing salt licks or "salt blocks" for sale. Though I've traveled throughout the US and Canada, I don't ever recall seeing a salt lick for sale in a supermarket ever again. As I've gotten older, I've began to wonder if this was a false memory.

I understand that small, rural grocery stores might carry such things, but I'm wondering specifically about urban supermarkets.

I think salt blocks are also used for water conditioning, so perhaps that's what I saw, and not a salt lick for livestock.

BTW, the same store had a tube tester...

Chiropractors in Salt Lake City, Utah

birdlips — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 08:39:37 -0800

Do you know of a good Chiropractor in Salt Lake City, Utah? I am trying to find a good Chiropractor in SLC and I am having a hard time. There are too many of them to make an uninformed choice and I don’t know anybody here with an opinion on the matter. I want to avoid the Chiropractors that use rocks and other more holistic techniques. I want the good old snap and pop types, however, in a modern environment and hopefully well versed in their industry.

Thanks!

Healthy chips and dip?

XMLicious — Fri, 07 Mar 2008 03:24:31 -0800

Healthy chips and dip? Lo, long have I quested thro' the dales and deep, like Bilbo for the One Ring, seeking chips that art not crap for my diet. (That would be “crisps” for you heathen Brits. And yes, I know Tolkien was British.)

Recently I happened upon Snyder's of Hanover sunflower and corn chips. They have a very nice texture but the flavor is meh.

In dip news, I like Middle Eastern food in general. I like حُمُّص بالطحين but besides putting it in falafel I've never found much else to use it with, much less dip in it.

But… Whoso putteth these chips in this dip, shall be the King of the Britons! There's a snacktacular gestalt between these two things, creating a Nietzschean Über-Snack, that I find delicious. And looking at the nutrition facts the combination doesn't look too bad health-wise: no trans fat, not too much fat overall, average carbs and below average sodium for a snack food. Definitely better than potato chips and onion dip, in any case.

So I ask you, me droogy droogs, what sort of healthy chips / crisps do you know of that I could put in my hummus, or healthy dip that I could dip my Hanoverian sunflower chips in, or other healthy combination of chips and dip?

Driving from Austin to Salt Lake--NEED SUGGESTIONS!

jenlyn1123 — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 17:05:30 -0800

I'm driving from Austin to Salt Lake City the last week of April and need suggestions on things to do, see, stay, eat and drink. All suggestions and ideas are appreciated as I've never been there before! We can't go through New Mexico due to a pact he made to a friend several years ago (don't ask) and are planning on driving up through Oklahoma and across Colorado to the Four Corners before heading up to Salt Lake.

We leave Austin on Monday and our flight home from Salt Lake is Saturday.

Do you have any recommendations on places to stay? I'd rather camp; he'd rather stay in cheap-o motels. Any must see places to see, eat, drink? Neither of us have been to this part of the country before (we're from the Northeast) so we're really excited. I'm a photographer so the more scenic places the better.

Thanks in advance for your suggestions!

Salt & pepper- which goes in which shaker?

rawredmeat — Tue, 25 Dec 2007 21:32:03 -0800

Salt and pepper shakers: Does the salt or the pepper go in the shaker with more holes? And does the salt or the pepper go in the shaker with bigger holes? We were sitting around the Christmas dinner table and the eternal argument surfaced: My dad insisted that the shaker with two holes got the Salt, and the shaker with three holes got the pepper. My mom argued the contrary. Is there a definitive answer so this family conflict can finally be laid to rest? What happens if each one has one hole, but one of the holes is bigger? Obviously, this does not apply to grinders, or shakers already marked "pepper" or "salt". What is the reasoning behind their assignment to which shaker? Where does the tradition stem from? Are there any exceptions to the rule? Please help! I don't think my family can take another year of this debate- it almost came to blows over our Christmas feast...

Where can I buy pickled eggs in Houston?

mrbill — Tue, 02 Oct 2007 11:10:24 -0800

Where can I buy pickled eggs in Houston? Are there any reputable retail establishments in Houston where I can buy a jar or two full of pickled eggs? I know how to make my own, but would rather buy them ready-to-eat.

I've been looking for the three years I've lived here (had the same problem in Austin as well). None of the major grocery stores (Kroger, HEB, Albertsons, Rice) have them, and I've not been able to find them at any of the ethnic specialty stores either.

Bonus points if I can find them somewhere near Westheimer/Gessner.

I normally buy them online from Jake & Amos but am having a horrible craving and I don't want to wait a week for UPS to show up.

Help me help users identify themselves properly to mysql

Tuwa — Sat, 29 Sep 2007 16:41:10 -0800

How do I pass this password in the correct form to MySQL? O'Reilly's PHP & MySQL proposes an authentication system with a login form which collects data, sends it to logincheck.php, hashes the password with md5(trim()), and checks it and the username against a function in authenticate.php.

authenticate.php uses the user 'lucy' to check authentication.users for a single correct user/password combination, allows access if there is one and only one match, and redirects the user to login.php if not.

Additional user data is stored in the database 'mysql'. The password there is not hashed with md5 but with the password() function.

I can pass the authentication challenge, getting the message that I am logged in as the user I want to be logged in as, but I can't actually interact with the database. What I get instead is the message "Access denied for user 'Oscar'@'localhost' (using password: YES)."

After far too long thinking about it I've realized that I can't interact with the database because I've got the session password stored as an md5 hash and am passing it back to the other pages, hashed, for all database interactions after login. (I think that's right--it seems intuitively right, since I definitely don't want everyone logged in as root and since the whole point of having additional users is to be able to grant and revoke permissions).

The trouble (I think) is that the mysql table doesn't expect an md5 hash; it expects whatever encryption MySQL's password() function uses.

The password() function works in MySQL but not in PHP.

I can't help feeling that this is an elemental question since the book didn't even go to the trouble of explaining how it's done, but it's been deviling me for the last few days and every site I've consulted seems to take it for granted that people know how to do this. And, well, I don't. So: how do I get the password in the form that MySQL wants it so that the password will match?

Also, is this three-table really the best structure for all this data, and if so, why? With a main database, an authentication database to check against, and an mysql database governing permissions it seems like it would be a chore to add and remove users as necessary. Is this structure necessary because of a security concern? Would it be okay to move the authentication details into the main database and grant 'lucy' SELECT on only that one table?

Salmiakki attack!

beerbajay — Tue, 17 Jul 2007 18:03:27 -0800

Salty licorice. San Francisco. Where? My friend wants salty licorice. Where can she find some in San Francisco? I know it can be mail-ordered but her taste for it is rather intense and needs immediate satisfaction.

Fleur de sel to Kosher & Beyond

special-k — Wed, 23 May 2007 17:00:10 -0800

What are some interesting salts you’ve come across? A very close friend of mine absolutely adores salt. He adds salt to almost everything he consumes [even if it has already been salted]. I’ve always joked that I would sign him up for a salt of the month club if there were one. His birthday is coming up in a month so I want to give him a collection of interesting salts that I can find. I’ve collected about 10 different types so far (mostly sea salts from a bunch of places). I’m looking for other salts (one that come from specific regions and flavored ones. e.g. garlic salt [but something more obscure]) that I can buy and add to the collection.

PS: I know The Onion store has a salt of the month club gag gift box. I plan to give him all of this salt in that box.

If only it didn't cost so much....

megancita — Mon, 12 Mar 2007 10:54:05 -0800

Any thoughts on the SALT Program for Documentary Studies, located in Portland, Maine? I've been accepted into the Fall 2007 nonfiction writing program at SALT. It's a 4-month intensive program.

Do any of you mefi's have direct experience or anecdotal experience with this program?

I would be a non-traditional student. I'm 32 and in need of a creative sabbatical from my life. I don't anticipate turning writing into a full-time career, but this particular program has always drawn me.

I calculate that four months of this program -- including tuition, living, and transportation costs (I'm from Texas) -- would put me out $15,000. I can pay part of it up front, but will have to finance the rest.

Is it worth it to spend so much money for such a short-term experience, expecially when I'm not thinking of it as a long-term investment but instead am thinking of it as just something interesting to do?

So, I guess that's two questions: thoughts on the program itself would be appreciated, but also thoughts on the wisdom of putting out so much cash for something when my only justification is that it would be "fun".

Is there really a low salt ham?

Noodles — Sun, 11 Feb 2007 22:16:19 -0800

Help me find some really low salt ham cold cuts. Healthy Choice is still too high in my opinion. Thanks

Will postassium help after excess salt consumption?

Melsky — Thu, 01 Feb 2007 03:19:08 -0800

Will eating foods heavy in potassium help after consuming too much salty food? I am trying to cut down on my salt intake because my blood pressure is hovering between normal and borderline high. But it seems like everthing I love to eat has tons of salt and I keep slipping up and having chicken soup or sushi.

I've heard that potassium is good for blood pressure and dealing with bloating from too much salt. Is there any truth to that?

Will drinking a lot of water help?

I'm not trying to use this as a license to eat tons of salt and I take pretty good care of my body in general.

Holy Salt! I'm knee deep in it!

tev — Tue, 02 Jan 2007 23:01:37 -0800

I've come into a great quantity of salt and I'd like to know what I can do with it. I am recently the proud owner of 4 lbs. of high quality sea salt; is there anything that I could possibly put it to use for in the short term? (side note: there is no ice on the ground and I don't do meat)

Making water conductive with out salt

blackout — Fri, 01 Dec 2006 19:00:00 -0800

Options other then salt to make water conductive to low voltage (5 - 9v) DC current. I'm working on a water fountain project and I need to determine when a drop of water passes through what I'm calling a 'water gate'. The 'water gate' is a circuit that will be completed when the drop of water is between two small wire probes, this will then cause some code to be run on an Arduino board.
I have access to +5 or +9 volts DC through the board and I'd like to keep from using another power supply thus the need for the low voltage.
The other problem is because this is a fountain the water will be running though a pump, and I don't want salt to build up on the pump and case it to die before its time. Also the salt build on the out spout that forms that drips could get rather large I would think.
Are there any other options to make water conductive to this low of a voltage with out the build up that would/could occur with salt?
I've tried tests with all kinds of water (normal tap, distilled, RO) but still I've had to add salt. It's not the end of the world to add the salt, but I would rather another option if it's out there.