Cleaning with Salt is Awesome!

In the past I have showed you how to clean with all sorts of interesting stuff – Borax, vinegar, corn starch, baking soda… but I have yet to show you how to clean with a handy ingredient you are sure to have on hand – SALT! Pure, old, table salt!

Cleaning A Cast Iron Skillet

As you may have noticed from my Instagram account, I love cooking with my Le Creuset skillet but cast iron is a delicate baby that needs to be cleaned in a very specific way. The best way to get this job done is to use salt.

The first way to do so is by filling your pan half way with water then pouring in a couple of tablespoons of salt, bring it to a boil over medium heat and gently scrap the bottom of the pain with a wooden spatula. It’s like deglazing your pan, but without the wine! Then just dump out the dirty water and wipe it down with a paper towel. Your second option is to simply pour salt into the pan when it’s dry then use a plastic scrubby to scrub off the remaining pieces of debris and to finish it off just dump it all out.

Red Wine Spills

Red wine is wonderful, but if often results in us talking with our hands and spilling our wine on our clothes, tablecloths or carpets. If this happens there is a quick, salty fix.

1. Blot up the stain with paper towel as quickly as you can to get the moisture out
2. Dump table salt on top of the stain – be liberal!
3. Let it dry – it may take a few hours or overnight
4. After it’s dry dump the salt off the garment, vacuum it up or throw it in the wash

The stain should be gone and you can get back to your wine!

The Tequila Trick

If you use stainless steel pots or mugs you will notice that they become stained from your coffee or tea. To get them looking like new again just use my tequila trick! Pour some salt into the item then take a lemon wedge and use it to agitate the salt around the stain. The stain will come right off!

Cutting Board Cleanup

When I cook I spend a lot of time at the cutting board and often chop items that tend to leave stains or odors; like beets, strawberries, onions and garlic. It is important to me to have my cutting board in tiptop shape so once I’m done cooking I simply get out my table salt and lemon and get to work. Spread a few tablespoons of salt over the cutting board, enough to get good coverage. Then take half a lemon and use it as a sponge and moving in a circular motion rub it all over the board, then give it a quick rinse and leave it upright (not flat) to dry properly so it doesn’t warp.

Powdered Cleanser

If you like the idea of a powdered cleanser to clean your stainless steel sinks or appliances, I have just the tip for you. Just mix up 1 part baking soda with 1 part table salt and add that to your stainless steel item that needs cleaning with a little bit of dish soap and clean as you normally would. You will see the salt adds a little bit of grittiness to make the job that much easier.

Although salt has been demoted from being used as currency several hundred years ago to simply something we use to season our food, there are still tons of great uses for salt, including using it to clean. Do you have any other great, salty cleaning tips to share with us? Comment below!