Ugh....(dead sea salts)

[LJA]

I noticed I have a bag of fine dead sea salt that didn't get zip-loc'd closed completely and some moisture got in from the humidity. Is there a way to dry them out or is it a goner?
TIA

 

[Guest]

Do you own a sledge hammer :wink: . But seriously can you pound on them with something .

Kitn

 

[LJA]

Do you own a sledge hammer :wink: . But seriously can you pound on them with something .

Kitn

LOL!! Kitn, it's not like they hardened, they sorta "puffed up" like fluff...weird.

 

[bombus]

I think you could dry them out in the oven- put them on a cookie sheet
with short walls, and put the oven on the lowest setting. for a couple of
hours or longer. Then it should break apart.

Hey- it works for stale potato chips- why not salt?

 

[LJA]

I think you could dry them out in the oven- put them on a cookie sheet
with short walls, and put the oven on the lowest setting. for a couple of
hours or longer. Then it should break apart.

Hey- it works for stale potato chips- why not salt?

I thought about that, Bombus - but I was worried they'd "melt"....(do salts melt? lol)

 

[bombus]

No- they dissolve. That's why they turned into a hard lump-
the humidity in the air dissolved the outside layer & they clumped
together. Put the oven on as low as it goes & leave it there for awhile.
At least 2-3 hours. Then, I would expect that you could crumble them
by hand.

 

[LJA]

LOL....I'm not explaining this right. They aren't hard at all. They're fluffy!! Like snowflakes! It's weird. I'm going to try the oven. It can't hurt. I'll just pitch 'em if it doesn't work, but it's really bizarre how they puffed up...

 

[bombus]

Whoa- that is wierd! Sorry I mis-read your post.
O.K. Here's what I would think happened- mind you I'm a biologist, not a chemist!

The original salt was precipitated at the dead sea- maybe dissolved in the clay,
the crystals assumed a particular shape.

Then, in back of your humid shelf, they actually absorbed enough water to dissolve,
and then dried out with a different configuration. It's still salt, but it has probably
added water molecules to it's structure- or sum'pn like that.

Here ya go- I found this on a grocery website:

"Sun salt in Mildura, Victoria, produces this distinctive flake crystal salt, colored pinkish
apricot by the amount of minerals it contains, namely, magnesium, calcium, and potassium.
Once the proper degree of salinity is achieved with the dehydration of the underground salt water,
the distinctive crystal formed is re-hydrated to make flakes, somewhat like the famous British Maldon salt."

re-hydrated- they take crystals & dissolve it again to make flakes!
LJA- could your salt be flaky? (lol)

Gonna use in in a scrub? Try a small sample. It may be fine. Otherwise,
I'll bet it would work in a salt bar.

 

[LJA]

Whoa- that is wierd! Sorry I mis-read your post.
O.K. Here's what I would think happened- mind you I'm a biologist, not a chemist!

The original salt was precipitated at the dead sea- maybe dissolved in the clay,
the crystals assumed a particular shape.

Then, in back of your humid shelf, they actually absorbed enough water to dissolve,
and then dried out with a different configuration. It's still salt, but it has probably
added water molecules to it's structure- or sum'pn like that.

Here ya go- I found this on a grocery website:

"Sun salt in Mildura, Victoria, produces this distinctive flake crystal salt, colored pinkish
apricot by the amount of minerals it contains, namely, magnesium, calcium, and potassium.
Once the proper degree of salinity is achieved with the dehydration of the underground salt water,
the distinctive crystal formed is re-hydrated to make flakes, somewhat like the famous British Maldon salt."

re-hydrated- they take crystals & dissolve it again to make flakes!
LJA- could your salt be flaky? (lol)

Gonna use in in a scrub? Try a small sample. It may be fine. Otherwise,
I'll bet it would work in a salt bar.

Well how d'ya like THAT?!! That sounds exactly like what happened. Bizarro. Thanks Bombus...you're like a soap-making Sherlock Holmes! :wink: :wink: :wink:

 

[bombus]

Anytime, LJA, I'll keep my microscope handy!