Kitchen Tips

Aside from all the alchemy that salt performs in terms of baking chemistry and food flavor, salt has a number of other great applications in the kitchen life.

Put two teaspoons of salt in a cup of water and place an egg in it- a fresh egg will sink, an older egg will float. The air cells in an egg increase as it ages, making an older egg more buoyant. This doesn’t mean a floating egg is rotten, just more mature. Crack the egg into a bowl and examine it for any displeasing odour or appearance-if it’s rotten, your nose will tell you. (Bonus fact: if you have hard-boiled eggs that are difficult to peel, that means they are fresh

Because salt increases the temperature at which water boils, it helps to set the whites more quickly when eggs are dropped into salted water for poaching.

Most of us use lemon or vinegar to keep peeled apples & pears from browning. You can also drop them in lightly salted water to help them keep their colour.

A little salt added to cake icing prevents the sugar in it from crystallizing.

Oniony-garlicky fingers? Try soap and water, then rubbing them on anything made of stainless steel (it really works), but you can also rub your fingers with a pinch of salt and vinegar combo.

Add a tiny pinch of salt when beating egg whites or whipping cream for quicker, higher peaks.

Prevent mould on cheese by wrapping it in a cloth moistened with salt water before refrigerating.

If a pie or casserole bubbles over in the oven, put a handful of salt on top of the spill. It won’t smoke and smell but will bake into a crust that makes the baked-on mess much easier to clean when it has cooled.

Kitchen tips