Pinching a penny

Post by **Butterbean** » Fri Jan 15, 2016 01:19

I'm about to do a lot of curing and was gathering supplies when I spotted a bag of Morton's Pool Salt at Sam's. It was $4.95 for a 40 lb bag. The label said it was 100% natural and had no additives but warned it could contain some small rocks. Since I'm planning on doing a lot of brining in the next week and my price for salt is around $0.90/lb I thought it worth a try since the rocks would simply sink to the bottom of the pot and I would strain the pickle into the barrel.

Anyhow, I cut the bag open and was well pleased with the salt. Its a larger grain than kosher and looks more like sea salt - which they did say it was collected in a shallow sea bed. So far I've found no rocks or anything in the salt so I thought I might pass this tip along to those who might want to save around $32 on 40 lbs of salt.

Here is what it looks like.

Post by **redzed** » Sat Jan 16, 2016 06:07

Salt looks good and might even have more flavour than the more purified salts. I have seen old recipes where salt was not highly processed and it was recommended that it be baked in the oven before adding to sausage.

Post by **Butterbean** » Sat Jan 16, 2016 14:36

Wonder what the baking does? So far I've just used this in some brines but I haven't seen any reason not to use it for something else.

Post by **Bob K** » Sat Jan 16, 2016 17:43

I usually get a 50# bag of Morton Granular from the local livestock feed store. Very fine but the bag says table salt non iodised. About 15 bucks last time I got some.

Post by **redzed** » Sat Jan 16, 2016 19:29

Butterbean wrote:Wonder what the baking does? So far I've just used this in some brines but I haven't seen any reason not to use it for something else.

The heating I suppose is to kill any bacteria that still might be it, even though you would think that the salt itself would take care of most of it.

Bob K wrote:I usually get a 50# bag of Morton Granular from the local livestock feed store. Very fine but the bag says table salt non iodised. About 15 bucks last time I got some.

As to salt, I bought a 40lb bag of coarse salt for less than $7.00 at the Bellingham WA Cash and carry. I use that for brining and sausage. For salami and dry curing I use sea salt. Never thought of checking out the livestock feed place. Thanks for the idea.!