It Snowed!

It snowed overnight where I live, and so now there's all kinds of melty white stuff on the ground.

We call this snow.

Before I get into the main part of this post let me first mention two brief facts about the relation of snow to salt. Perhaps throughout the season I'll come up with some more. For now there are just two:

1. When water vapor condenses to form clouds, it does so by clinging to condensation nuclei such as dust, ice crystals, and salt. Salt's all over the place, folks. Even in clouds (why do you think they're so white? (okay, that's not really why...)).
2. In movies, the familiar crunching sound of walking through snow is simulated by cornstarch, cat litter, or salt.

Anyway.  When it snows, roads are salted to make the snow melt.  But why does this happen?  The easy answer is to say that snow is evil and the holy salt melts it like Arcs melt Nazis.  What, after all, is the Ninth Circle of Hell covered in according to Virgil?  (Well, ice... but close enough.)

The sciency (and probably more credible) answer is that salt lowers the freezing point of water.  The lower the freezing point, the colder it has to be for water to freeze.

The reason this works is because the dissolved salt ions are an impurity.  As it gets colder, water molecules lose energy and slow down.  As they slow down, they come closer together and form hydrogen bonds with each other.  When salt is introduced, the water molecules cannot form the lattice structure characteristic of ice as easily, and so more heat needs to be removed from the system for the water to freeze.

In controlled environments, salt can decrease the freezing point of water to about -21 ºC (-6 ºF).  In practical use, such as on sidewalks or roads, salt lowers the freezing point of water to about -9 ºC (15 ºF).

Morton Salt

Morton Salt is a staple in salt brands (as Swingline is a staple in stapler brands).  That familiar girl in the yellow dress, holding an umbrella and obliviously pouring salt all over the place, has found her place in cupboards and pantries all around the world.

Morton Salt started out as a Chicago sales agency in 1848, called Richmond & Company, Agents for Onondaga Salt.  The discovery of gold in California in 1849 created a huge demand for salt as fortune-seekers made the long journey west.  In 1889 Joy Morton (whose father served as secretary of agriculture under Grover Cleveland and invented Arbor Day) acquired a major interest in the company and renamed it Joy Morton & Company.  In 1910, the firm was finally renamed the Morton Salt Company.

Morton Salt began adding magnesium carbonate as an anti-caking agent to its salt in 1911.  The Morton Salt Umbrella Girl was born in 1914, along with the slogan, "When it rains it pours."

...Get it?  BECAUSE WHEN IT RAINS AND IT'S HUMID OUT THE SALT STILL POURS!

This blew my mind.  Anyway, 1924 brought iodized salt, and then here is a progression of the Morton Salt Umbrella Girl over the decades:

Isn't she adorable? She reminds me of the Coppertone girl, but I feel less awkward.

Vintage Salt Shakers

Do you like knick-knacks?  Do you like collecting stuff?  Do you like having a bunch of things in your home that you can't use, lest its quality diminish?

Then you've come to the right place!

Fairfax salt and pepper shakers in orchid crystal ~$100

Wham.  Vintage salt shakers.  All the rage these days.  But before you dive into the exciting world of vintage salt shaker collecting (you can throw the pepper shakers away), you should first know a few basics about the hobby connoisseurship:

Quality
This is totally important.  The better the condition, the more valuable the salt shaker.  If you're collecting just to decorate your kitchen with cutesy (dare I say kitschy?) salt shakers, then don't worry about this.  But real legit serious awesome collectors (Antiques Roadshow tier) should definitely keep quality in mind.

Materials
Salt shakers can be made of a variety of materials, including various metals, glass, wood, ceramics, and more.

Affordable vintage milkglass shakers ~$8-$10

 

Carved ivory adds a touch of elegance and murder ~$60

Age/Rarity

Like wine and unlike grapes, good salt shakers get better with age.  Sometimes it's not too difficult to determine the age of a salt shaker.  Some vintage salt shakers served to advertise for companies (a popular sub-genre of vintage salt shakers are the Gasoline Pump sets, for example), and so it is simply a matter of recognizing the era of the brand.

Likewise, many salt shakers represent popular characters, like this old-timey Mickey Mouse set:

 Did someone say Suicide Mouse? ~$195

 

Outrageousness Factor

Like this $800 set:

But it's signed!  I think it's a Warhol.

Level of Racism

Also important, apparently.

 

Goodness. ~$85-$100

More info on vintage salt shaker collecting here: http://reviews.ebay.com/Collectible-Salt-amp-Pepper-Shakers_W0QQugidZ10000000000882268