Table salt gone soggy again. Frozen olive oil.

[wakey_wake]

Today's annoyance (if there could be only one!) is finding my new pack of table salt has gone soggy cloggy inside.

 

I replaced the last one because it did that, and vowed to shut the little twizzler on the top instead of leaving it open.

I keep some silica gel in that cupboard but it's a regular usage cupboard.

 

Anyone have tips please? Other than to reduce my salt intake 😛

 

I'm currently casting around for a way to hold it at 50°C for a while, to see if that helps, but maybe the answer is to buy another and wrap it in tinfoil and parcel tape. Then keep the twizzly lid shut too.

 

 

The frozen olive oil is something I was expecting. Stand it in front of the heater and it's fine again, no big deal...  but it does bring me to thinking about where I would put a gently (electrically) heated cupboard. Down low makes sense for the benefit of heat released, but sharing roof & cabin wall makes sense for convenience.

[LadyG]

Move in to a proper boat with a multi fuel stove. I had to get up at 5.00 am because Webasto woke me up, it's cold outside, but it's toasty inside. Shorts and T shirt, 

How can a boat be damp inside if you keep fuelling the stove?

Set the Webasto at 16C and it will wake you up if stove goes out.

Edited November 30, 2023 by LadyG

[Jen-in-Wellies]

Put it in a sealed container when not in use. The only way that makes sense, if you can't keep the cupboard at normal lived in domestic temperatures and humidity most of the time. Silica gel will only last a certain length of time before it is saturated and ceases to take out more moisture.

5 minutes ago, wakey_wake said:

The frozen olive oil is something I was expecting. Stand it in front of the heater and it's fine again, no big deal...  but it does bring me to thinking about where I would put a gently (electrically) heated cupboard. Down low makes sense for the benefit of heat released, but sharing roof & cabin wall makes sense for convenience.

If you are not on a shore line, an electrical heated cupboard will trash your batteries.

[BEngo]

Mix some uncooked  white rice with it.  Any variety is OK.

N

[Cheese]

You can dry out silica gel, to reuse it.

[BWM]

Spread the salt out on a baking tray and it will dry out on a low heat. 

[wakey_wake]

2 hours ago, Jen-in-Wellies said:

Put it in a sealed container when not in use. The only way that makes sense, if you can't keep the cupboard at normal lived in domestic temperatures and humidity most of the time. [...]

I think sealed container is the answer - but tinfoil & parcel tape rather than another box around the outside.

Putting salt in a cardboard tube isn't clever, unless you're the marketing department who know it'll get chucked out again and replaced.

 

45 minutes ago, BWM said:

Spread the salt out on a baking tray and it will dry out on a low heat. 

The cunning marketing department have me on that count too - can't get it out without destroying the handy dispenser box.

 

 

2 hours ago, Jen-in-Wellies said:

If you are not on a shore line, an electrical heated cupboard will trash your batteries.

Absolutely! I'm on shore line now, and would have proper heating before I would be onboard & without a shoreline.

However I think the damage to this pot was done while it was wet but mild...  before I had any heating on.

 

There are several things that would benefit from a warm cupboard, but I'm not sure it's worth the faff of doing it. Not just the physical install, but to run only when mains is on.

 

Another option I hadn't thought of is to keep the salt in the freezer. That's why my lead (Pb) test sticks are in there. All's good until an unscheduled defrost event, and cold weather can provoke that. 🤦‍♂️

 

 

2 hours ago, Jen-in-Wellies said:

Silica gel will only last a certain length of time before it is saturated and ceases to take out more moisture.

1 hour ago, BEngo said:

Mix some uncooked  white rice with it.  Any variety is OK.

That's the same, as I understand the purpose of the rice? One-shot moisture absorption, but rice being food-grade and larger grain can be mixed in.

 

 

57 minutes ago, Cheese said:

You can dry out silica gel, to reuse it.

Thanks - I have done. After giving up buying CaCl2 refills I got a mixture of 3x white : 1x green/orange indicator type silica beads. I probably have enough to be able to dry it all once a year on surplus summer PV electricity.

However the slow cooker is really the wrong tool for drying it in bulk. I know "in a tray in the oven" is a suggested way but really I want to do a bucketful at a time, so a fill-and-forget dryer is just another project on the scribbles pile.

 

By observing the colour changes over time in a transparent container, I now see that only the top inch is accessible to moisture on a useful timescale - putting a jamjar full in the cupboard doesn't work very well. The same was true when drying it, but maybe even only ½" depth.

 

What I haven't done is find a way to provide the surface area during absorption. The ideal would be a transparent perforated tube about 1" internal diameter, and heat resistant.

 

All problems for another day, stashed at the back of my head. 🧠

[MtB]

6 hours ago, wakey_wake said:

Today's annoyance (if there could be only one!) is finding my new pack of table salt has gone soggy cloggy inside.

 

Clearly not a liveaboard, lol...!

 

I have the same problem BTW now I live on the bank. Being utterly loaded I chuck it and buy a new pot of salt from Tesco for £1.20p every once in a while...

 

 

6 hours ago, wakey_wake said:

Anyone have tips please? Other than to reduce my salt intake 😛

 

 

Don't even try. Enough salt on one's grub is one of life's lowest-cost delights.

 

 

[36national]

sachets

[MtB]

1 minute ago, 36national said:

sachets

 

 

Don't you call me a sachet....

 

 

[beerbeerbeerbeerbeer]

5 hours ago, BEngo said:

Mix some uncooked  white rice with it.  Any variety is OK.

N

 dried peas work too

[truckcab79]

25 minutes ago, beerbeerbeerbeerbeer said:

 dried peas work too

So does simply decanting your newly purchased salt into one of the myriad of small air-tight containers available for pennies.   Can’t see why it would need to be any more complicated than that. Click-lock ones are easy to open and when you knock it over you won’t be vacuuming it out of every corner for months.  
 

Not sure why you’d want to waste food, whether peas or rice to save some other food being wasted.

Edited November 30, 2023 by truckcab79

[beerbeerbeerbeerbeer]

 Because you put the peas/rice in the salt cellar and neither will come out the little holes 

[Mad Harold]

You've got a damp boat! 🐸

[beerbeerbeerbeerbeer]

Not me, 

the OP

[ditchcrawler]

Cant you dry it in the microwave? 😈

[truckcab79]

9 minutes ago, beerbeerbeerbeerbeer said:

 Because you put the peas/rice in the salt cellar and neither will come out the little holes 

Philistine.  I assumed they meant proper salt. Not the powdery crap in a little shaker.   I(t does say table salt if I bothered reading it properly in hindsight) 😂

Edited November 30, 2023 by truckcab79

[Mad Harold]

4 minutes ago, beerbeerbeerbeerbeer said:

Not me, 

the OP

It was for the OP. Not beerbeer recurring.

Do you like beer by any chance? My current fave is Speckled Hen.Cos it's on special at my local Co.

[beerbeerbeerbeerbeer]

5 minutes ago, Mad Harold said:

It was for the OP. Not beerbeer recurring.

Do you like beer by any chance? My current fave is Speckled Hen.Cos it's on special at my local Co.

been having a bit of time off the beer and am sipping me way through the Christmas offers on the whiskies. 
 

😋 with a bit of cheese

 

 

[wakey_wake]

3 hours ago, 36national said:

sachets

It's a potential solution - thanks.

But not for me, too many diddy packets to open. Like MtB says, one of life's lowest-cost delights.

Switching to soy sauce is another option, it's just right there but it's not what I wanted in lunch.

 

It's currently sitting in front of Fanny McFanheater Face, plastic end further away. We shall see.

 

 

2 hours ago, beerbeerbeerbeerbeer said:

 Because you put the peas/rice in the salt cellar and neither will come out the little holes 

Ah right, misconception! It's in the cardboard tube with plastic twizzly cap, which seemed like a good idea at the time.

Maybe another answer is to get a proper salt cellar from the salt seller. A sea veteran one of course.

 

 

2 hours ago, ditchcrawler said:

Cant you dry it in the microwave? 😈

I like this microwave, it's probably an antique - 1990s version, so likely to overheat if mismatched.

I suspect there will be arcing, spitting and an attempt to burn the container unless ceramic. Something to try before drying the CDs I suppose. 😆

 

What surprised me about it was that reducing the input voltage with a variac also reduced the power consumption - meaning it could then run on the 1kW inverter. I thought the power consumption was governed by some integral magic of the magentron. Those things do my head in.

 

 

2 hours ago, truckcab79 said:

I assumed they meant proper salt. Not the powdery crap in a little shaker.

I don't fuss about the shape of it, can't taste any difference.

https://www.waitrose.com/ecom/products/losalt-original/007935-3777-3778 (duck, run & cover)

 

3 hours ago, MtB said:

Clearly not a liveaboard, lol...!

Rumbled. I have a shoreline and no stove (yet).

[Sir Percy]

Coarse salt in a grinder should work.

[Mike Tee]

Stop adding salt to your food - within a month you will have forgotten all about it, and its not necessary anyway. I quit over 30 years ago and am still going strong.

[MtB]

6 hours ago, Mike Tee said:

Stop adding salt to your food - within a month you will have forgotten all about it, and its not necessary anyway. I quit over 30 years ago and am still going strong.

 

Cobblers! I've fallen for this myth peddled by medical types several times over the decades, and all that happened was I spent six months eating food that tasted disappointing and needing salt before caving in and returning to having salt. 

 

I didn't quit 30 years ago and I'm still here going strong too! 

 

 

[Momac]

19 hours ago, wakey_wake said:

Today's annoyance (if there could be only one!) is finding my new pack of table salt has gone soggy cloggy inside.

 

I replaced the last one because it did that, and vowed to shut the little twizzler on the top instead of leaving it open

 

Sounds like the location is far too damp to be healthy.

More heating and ventilation required .

 

 

I am fairly sure my father in laws liberal use of salt both for cooking and added to food on the plate was a contributory factor in his earlier than expected departure from life. It was best to avoid the seat next to him at the table as the fallout from his salt sprinkling could be unwelcome.

The NHS advice is below

https://www.nhs.uk/live-well/eat-well/food-types/salt-in-your-diet/

.

[MtB]

The problem with salt is it causes high blood pressure, a symptomless disorder that causes heart attacks. AIUI.

 

If one's BP is well controlled, there is no problem with scoffing delicious salt.