Do you ever go to refill the salt shaker only to find your salt has hardened and clumped into a large thudding mass? I used to just shake it, vigorously, until I needed to dim the lights and throw back an aspirin, but then a friend told me to put rice {just a grain or two} in your salt shaker to absorb condensation and keep salt from hardening.
I did, and guess what? No more clumping–just smooth pouring salty goodness.
~Mavis
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Kim says
You can also put pieces of a soda cracker in the shaker.
Mari says
Or a wooden toothpick/cocktail stick, broken or folded and put into the jar. I use this method all the time in my herb shakers in mixes that tend to clump or settle.
Another old idea I still use too is – a small apple kept in the brown and raw sugar containers, keeps the sugars free flowing and absorbs the moisture and stops clumping. The apple can be eaten when u change it – give a whole new meaning to sweet apple. When my kids were young, the apples used to go missing out of the tins frequently. Finally they learnt that putting new one back in gave a regular treat.
Charla Echlin says
Mari- thanks for the tip on de-clumping sugar, I grew up in Hawaii and we always have had the rice in the salt, but I don’t remember what my mom used to do to declump her sugar and I have only noticed it happening to me lately. I bake a lot so I buy large bags of sugar – it’s a bummer when it all becomes one big rock candy! I think I’ll need to invest in a large tupperware container though. The apple idea is a good one. Thanks!
Huey says
Yep, a few grains of rice in the shaker will do the trick.
Meg says
My family always kept a wooden toothpick in the shaker from as far back as I can remember
Don Garner says
I tried the rice bit and it didn’t work. I have hickory smoked salt purchased on-line that I dearly love. But I don’t know what to do to keep it from hardening. I’m desperate. Please help. Anyone. Thanks