Mortons Salt: Learned a new thing

[Catscankim]

When I was doing research on pickling, the recipes specifically said to not use table salt. Why? So I went down the rabbit hole...

Using table salt will cause a sediment in the bottom of your jars while pickling salt will not. What is the difference you ask?

The logo for Morton's "when it rains, it pours" refers to the fact that their salt was designed to always be useable when it is damp and humid. They put an anti-caking ingredient into it to keep it pourable. If you use table salt in pickling...it can develop the sediment. Salt without this will eventually turn into a rock-hard brick over time in the package, where the container with the little girl with a yellow umbrella will not.

When it is humid out, the salt will still be fluid: "When It Rains, It Pours".

Fun facts.

I wonder if using pickling salt would be better in soap than table salt for soaping, to avoid stuff other than salt.

 

[AliOop]

Very interesting facts - I never knew that, either. I have often heard it recommended to use non-iodized salt for soap-making, but I don't know if that's just a soapy myth. We only use sea salt in our house, so that's what I used in soap before I tried SL. I rarely even use that any more.

 

[Obsidian]

I've been using pickling salt for years in soap. Didn't really know what the anti caking stuff might do

 

[cmzaha]

I have used both salts for years in my salt bars and never noticed a difference in the way the salt bars work. Many times I mix table salt and sea salt depending on what I have on hand to make up my 100% salt. I have also used iodized and non-iodized table salt in my salt bars.

Yes, if you want clear pickling juice or brine in your jars you use pickling salt, not table salt.

 

[earlene]

Because my mind can sometimes lean toward the very literal, I have to remind myself that the iodine number in lye calculators is NOT a measure of iodine in soap, which sometimes happens when I think about adding salt to soap. It's kind of weird, but there it is. The iodine number for soap is not about actual iodine in soap, but the literal part of my thinking processes always wants to go there.

Like, Carolyn, I have also used iodized and non-iodized salt in soap, depending on what I have available. I have even gone to the slat flats and scraped up salt from the surface and used it, although that is not really the same as table salt. Bonneville Salt Flats is comprised of potash salts, and makes for a very thick prolific lather, the like of which I have never found in any other soap I have made.

But aside from the salt scraped off the Salt Flats, I have not noticed any real difference in soap with or without added iodine.

Now, when it comes to the anti-caking agent in salt, or the anti-caking agent in powdered sugar or the anti-caking agent in any other powdered additive we may put into soap, I have never noticed any adverse affects. At Modern Soapmaking, Kenna states that soap with powdered sugar has a bit creamier lather than soap with granulated sugar and her hypothesis for that is the starch often used as the anti-caking agent in powdered sugar. (link)

So think about what powdered substances you routinely add to soaps and ask yourself if they are packaged as a food, and if they are, then it is likely they may have some form of anti-caking agent added to keep them from clumping inside the packaging prior to use. Examples of things we often use that normally have added anti-caking agents: cocoa powder, instant coffee, powdered milks, powdered spices, beer (part of the filtering process in the US), and more. Anti-caking agents like Calcium silicate are also used in soap & cosmetic to create a silky feel, and in the case of MP silica thickens the base. So items used as anti-caking agents in powders do often serve other purposes when added to things other than food, such as cosmetics, detergents, soaps, lubricants, etc.

Some anti-caking agents that may or may not be in additives we put into soap can be found listed here: The Basics of Anti-Caking Agents