Salt mill

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Salt mill with clear acrylic housing

The salt mill is a mechanical or electromechanical kitchen device as well as a table accessory for grinding sea ​​salt or other coarse table salt , in the form of a handy grinder . It is one of the spice mills commonly used in households and restaurants .

construction

The main component of salt mills is the grinder , usually a conical grinder , with an adjusting device for setting the grain size of the ground material. The material used for this is plastic (can release microplastics ), better grinders use stainless steel or ceramic ; Metal grinders are unsuitable because of the aggressiveness of the salt. The grinder is set in a decorative housing made of wood, stainless steel, plastic or partly made of glass.

Salt mills are usually used for (coarse-grained) sea salt.

Mechanical salt mills are operated manually, usually by turning the appropriately designed (rotary) head of the mill or with the aid of a small crank, usually made of metal, on the head of the mill. In the meantime, electromechanical salt mills are also being offered on the market that have a battery-operated motor grinder that can usually be temporarily switched on using a pressure switch. They are mostly similar to mechanical pepper mills in terms of structure and shape.

Industrial plants for grinding sea or rock salt for trade and the food industry or for other industrial purposes are not considered here .

Table accessory or kitchen appliance

Except as a kitchen appliance are now following the example of salt mills Peppermill be found in many households and partly also in the restaurant business as a desktop accessory and constitute a part of the table place setting . In contrast to conventional salt shakers where the holes can become clogged, this does not occur in Salt Mill on.

Salt mills are useful if the adjustable grinder is used to get the salt in the desired grain size. The finer the grain, the lower the amount can be with the same “ palatability ”. On the other hand, when preparing certain foods, a coarser grain of salt "with a bite" may be desired, such as for hearty fried potatoes or grilled meat . Ground rock salt cannot be stored because it clumps together over time. Therefore, rock salt is usually sold coarse or in chunks and only ground shortly before use.

The widespread use of salt mills is likely to have more fashionable reasons. Even professional cooks are usually content with ground salt in two or three grains.

See also

Web links

Commons : Salt Mills  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. Jennie Radü: Simple salt mills - does plastic end up in our food? In: ndr.de . January 17, 2020, accessed January 20, 2020 .