Salt is considered an essential ingredient for your cooking needs. If used in moderation, it can add the necessary flavor to your dish. Using the wrong proportions for your dish might alter the taste of your meal. Salt is a sensitive condiment that may form clumps if mishandled. Minimal exposure to moisture can produce clumps that can harden your basic spices.
Placing rice in your salt shaker will limit the chance of salt clumping. It can absorb moisture drawn inside the shaker—allowing the salt particles to remain loose. Add few grains of rice underneath the salt layer to avoid clumping.
How Do You Keep Moisture Out of a Salt Shaker?
Salt shakers are small condiment containers that are used to disperse salt particles into your food. This allows salt grains to be distributed evenly, preventing excess salt from changing the flavor of your food. While salt shakers are helpful for your favorite condiment, the holes may create airways that can later build moisture.
Salt is a hygroscopic material; it can pull moisture out of the air and absorb it. Since the dry specks of salt are naturally brittle, this may clump up inside your shaker as soon it starts to get damp. Changes in temperature, liquid, humidity, and steam can stimulate moisture—which could turn your salt particles into a solid rock state.
Placing few grains of rice at the bottom of your salt shaker will prevent moisture from melting your condiment. Like silicon, rice grains serve as a “sponge” that maintains the necessary dryness of the salt for it to be quickly shaken inside its container.
Maintain the dryness of your salt with this method by using this method. Keep the moisture from climbing inside your shaker, and store your condiment better. Restaurants and fast-food chains retain the long rice grains inside the shakers. Like salt, rice grains are also hygroscopic material—but it doesn’t clump due to its large size.
- Mix a few grains of long grain rice into your salt mixture. You may allow the salt and rice to mix through since the dried rice grains are too big to fit into the salt shaker’s holes. If you are having a hard time placing the grains inside the container, you may use spoons to fill the food.
- The amount of rice grain placed inside your salt shaker depends on how damp your salt is. You may add ¼ teaspoon up to 2 tablespoons of salt inside your shaker. Long rice grains are suggested since they will not flow into the shaker’s holes, it will also absorb the moisture from the salt, preventing clumps.
- You can place the rice grains as long as you want. After all, it does not affect your salt grains’ overall flavor, texture, and odor. You can add more rice grains to absorb the moisture of your sale quickly. Wetter salt clumps need more significant amounts of rice for it to absorb faster.
- Using a salt shaker is essential since it will be time-consuming to filter the rice from the salt. Using rice shakers with wider holes will still function, although shakers with finer mesh are highly recommended.
- You may also place paper towels underneath the salt-rice mixture to fasten the drying hours. Paper towels can quickly collect moisture droplets, and they can also be used to transfer the particles rapidly.
Why Is Rice Working to Absorb Moisture?
As mentioned earlier, rice grains are placed inside the salt shaker to maintain its dryness. Putting rice grains in salt shakers is a traditional method of keeping the salt’s dry. It is even done in many restaurants, even in households. The logic of placing rice grains in your daily cooking needs revolves around their drying properties.
Aside from condiments, rice is a commonly used desiccant for wet phones, electronic gadgets, toys, and anything required to draw out moisture. Waterlogged devices can be cleared using rice grains, especially if you don’t have enough resources to purchase bags of desiccants (like silicone).
Raw rice is tasteless, odorless, and flavorless. You can mix uncooked rice with salt until silicone and other desiccants without mixing its chemicals on it. Mixing uncooked rice grains with salt is a win-win situation. It will keep your salt safe from moisture, and it is an expensive way to maintain your salt.
You can use rice grains to dry spices like pepper, nutmeg, cinnamon, turmeric, and other mushy grains from salt.
Drying your spices and condiments improves the distribution of your food particles. Finer granules are dissolved by the food faster, preventing excessive amounts to your dish. Larger clumps are harder to dissolve and may be placed disproportionately to your desired meal.
How Much Rice Should I Put in my Salt Shaker?
Long grain rice is recommended for your salt shaker. Rice is a healthy and non-toxic option to draw out excess moisture to your food. It does not alter the overall quality of your condiments, unlike other desiccants that release harmful toxins that cannot be ingested or inhaled.
Clumped salt is not recommended for cooking since it is harder to measure for your cooking needs. This may create lesser or more amounts than the required serving amounts. Placing the right amount of rice grain will defy the quality of your salt particles. If you have a larger salt jar, you need to place rice into your grain mixture, too.
- A bit of salt can bring flavor to your food. Making sure that it is not clumped will improve the overall quality of your dish.
- The amount of rice used for your salt depends on the amount of your salt. In a jar filled with salt, place 1/5 of rice grains into the pot. You may shake it to distribute the rice grains evenly.
- Use a scooper of paper towel to transfer the grains efficiently. Paper towel is recommended since it will accelerate the drying process.