Got Salt? How do you store it?
I'm sure you've found that some salt containers, in storage for enough time, will become salt rocks. The cardboard salt containers (usually 1 lb.) are notorious for this.
THE SALT IS STILL GOOD. Salt does not go bad if kept dry. It will last for centuries... Even moist salt does not decay, it just becomes harder to dispense. Remember that sea salt comes from a water solution and does not go bad in that environment either.
The key is keeping it dry. Salt is hygroscopic, meaning it will absorb water from the air.
How to keep it dry:
https://apartmentprepper.com/salt-for-long-term-storage-2/The recommendation in the article is to use mylar bags and a heat sealer. That works while you can still buy mylar bags...
Lacking such bags, you can use canning jars, heated in the oven (NOT A WATER BATH...). Place the DRY, salt filled jars in the oven, place the sealing lid and ring LOOSELY on top and heat for 30 minutes at 300 degrees. Remove the jars from the oven and screw the ring down while the jars are hot.
Wait until the jars cool down (you should hear the snap as the sealing lid is pushed down by atmospheric pressure. The interior, once hot, air will be at lower pressure when cooled.
If the lid does not snap, then UNscrew the lid and reheat in the oven. Some lids will fail to seal, discard them and replace.
Salt which has absorbed water from the air is
still good salt, but you may need to use a hammer or mortar and pestle to crush it back to small pieces. Once you do that, place the salt in an AIRTIGHT container, like the canning jars, and go through the heating process as described above. The intent is to drive off the absorbed moisture (H2O) with heat, before sealing the container.
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