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When you visit the grocery store, you would notice different salts like canning salts, iodized salts, sea salts, and table salts on the shelf, but when you need salt for canning tomatoes, and you don’t come across the pickling salt, what do you do.
Canning salt or pickling salts are the purest forms of salt, and there is also no removal of minerals during the processing of this salt. Most importantly, no additives or anti-caking agents are added during processing. The question now becomes can you use iodized salt for canning tomatoes?
No, you should never use iodized salt for canning tomatoes as it contains iodine, which tends to give canned tomatoes and other canned products some unnatural, abnormal shades of color.
But if you don’t have canning salt, what other salt can be used for canning tomatoes?
Let’s quickly find out!
What Is Iodized Salt?
Iodized salt is table salt mixed with several various elements including iodine. Iodine is a micronutrient and a dietary mineral that is sometimes naturally present in certain food supplies in certain regions, especially close to sea coasts.
Read Also: Kosher Salt Vs Himalayan Salt
Iodine is generally rare in the earth’s crust as it is said to be a heavy element. An open package that contains table salt made with iodine may rapidly lose its iodine content at high temperatures through oxidation process.
What Is Iodine Salt Used For?
People combine iodine with table salt to reduce iodine deficiency. Apart from that, iodine helps to boost thyroid function as the thyroid glands in the body rely on iodine to increase the production of certain thyroid hormones like thyroxine and triiodothyronine.
These hormones, in turn, helps in the regulation of blood pressure. Adequate iodine intake helps to keep the body’s weight under control as your thyroid gland directly controls your metabolism.
When your metabolism is high, you might not gain a healthy weight, but when your metabolism rate is low, it helps the body store more fat which directly results in weight gain.
Iodine has other benefits like supporting a healthy pregnancy, removing toxins and preventing bacteria, promoting the heart rate, and keeping you hydrated.
Can You Use Iodized Salt for Canning Tomatoes?
Iodized salt should be the least salt you should want to consider as long as canning your tomatoes is concerned.
This is because this type of salt tends to give your tomatoes or canned goods a funny shade that contradicts natural goods’ typical taste and texture.
What Salts Can I Use for Canning If There’s No Canning Salt Available?
If you need canning salt and there are none around you, you could go for other salts like table salt, sea salt or kosher salt.
1. Table Salt
Table salts are not the best option to use in cans, but just a pinch of it would do the job, and since the grain size of table salt is more significant than that of pickling salt, you might as well grind it further to obtain finer particles before you use them.
But another problem with this alternative is that when you use refined grains of table salts for canning, the brine might get cloudy because of some anti-caking agencies.
However, if you don’t mind the cloudiness, you could consider using table salts for your canning.
2. Sea Salt
There are different sea salts with different textures, but since you’d be using it for canning, you might want to use the coarse grain sea salt as it gives a more excellent flavour to your dishes.
Because sea salt is a natural form of salt, it may take a lot of time to dissolve in the can, except if you grind it first before using it.
Another thing you need to know is that it is one of the most expensive alternatives to use for canning salt, but if you can afford it then go for it as it can work as a great substitute as well.
3. Kosher Salt
Kosher salt works just like sea salt, but you’d need to grind it into more refined grains before using it in your canned tomatoes to give it that pickling salt feel.
What Is the Shelf Life for Salt?
The fantastic thing is that salt in its different forms has no definite shelf life, but you should do well to avoid storing them in metal containers and keeping them away from any form of moisture.
Bottom line, the salt you purchase today can still be in use in the next 10 or 20 years as long as they are kept away from moisture.