Using rock salt to make ice cream
Although hundreds of millions of tons of rock salt are used and manufactured annually, most home consumers are more familiar with the culinary applications of rock salt and may consider purchasing this product in bulk, as several hundred can be purchased. of pounds of salt for the price. from a few trips to the grocery store. Salt lasts for years when stored properly, and therefore this natural resource is one of many staples that you should buy in bulk.
Rock salt may be a popular international commodity, but its use in the home is often limited to defrosting the driveway and making frozen desserts by hand. Kids are often curious about the use of this common “ingredient” to make ice cream, but the trick is no culinary secret. Actually, the use of salt to make frozen treats is based on a simple chemical property: when salt is mixed with water, the water freezes at a lower temperature. This means that a heat-conducting surface (such as a metal can) can be cooled below freezing simply by adding salt to an ice or water bath.
Lowering the temperature of a heat-conducting surface is not important for keeping food frozen, but for freezing a liquid evenly, producing the creamy texture of ice cream with even freezing.
How much rock salt is needed?
In fact, it takes quite a bit of salt to freeze ice cream. Salt and ice need to be constantly added to the ice bath to keep the temperature down and draw heat away from the ice cream. As the ice melts, the temperature remains cold, but the additional ice speeds up the freezing of the ice cream. Several containers of rock salt may be needed, depending on the amount of ice cream being made. After all, a batch of homemade ice cream is never enough.
What to do with extra salt
The good news is that the water can be reused. In fact, salt water can extend the life of a cleaning detergent or even be used in a salt bath. After all, a variety of bath products include salt to help break down the chemicals in the bathwater. Additional saltwater can be used to clean floors (as a pre-detergent rinse), defrost a driveway, or prepare a property for construction, as it tends to kill plant growth.
Clearly, there are many uses for this natural resource, even after it’s been used to make frozen dairy desserts.