Salt

[Val_2]

I didn't have the opportunity to do Chemistry or Science as such at secondary school as I had to do french, so I have no idea how natural things can break down. I just discovered that a bag (plastic printed sachet type) of pure natural sea salt from the french salt marshes that I had put in the back of the dresser cupboard has eaten it's way through the bottom of the said bag and into a pack of Lasagne sheets of pasta leaving the box encrusted and soggy. So, to all those other housewives out there with bags of sea salt in their cupboards which you won't use for some time, better transfer it to a jam jar so it dosn't end up eating your furniture. Reminded me of Alien a bit where it's green blood eats through solid metal.

[Teamedup]

Ah I love sel de guerande. Hmmmmmmmmmmm wonderful. Plays havoc if I put it in the salt grinder so I just use it as it is. I've never had any problems with it leaking though, must go and check.

[Dick Smith]

I doubt if its eating its way out of the bag, Val, it is deliquescent so takes moisture out of the air and wets the bag so that it degrades. The jamjar will be fine, but it may affect metal containers, especially copper IIRC.

[letrangere]

Val, odd you mention this for I endured three years of chemistry at school before being rightly pushed into the arts stream and the only thing I can remember from those horrid days in that smelly old laboratory was lesson #1 the sand and salt experiment.  Can't remember what we did now (it was autumn term 1970) but I guess we must have heated the sand to produce salt separation?  I wouldn't say it's worth a detour but Sambhar Lake in Rajasthan is an extraordinary place.  It's a very odd, quite eerie, stark white landscape stretching for 40 or so kilometres and is apparently the largest natural salt producing centre in the world.  M