Salt from sea water, the stove-top version

[freemotion]

I thought I'd move this subject to it's own thread. I recently aquired two gallons of sea water from the ocean near Cape Cod, MA, for the purpose of seeing if I could extract usable sea salt from it for table use and cooking.

I have a small enamel-ware pan that I bought for use in a solar oven (rainy summer here last summer, so I haven't used it yet) that I thought would be perfect. My stainless steel pans all came with warnings that they would be pitted by direct contact with salt, so enamel it is.

The pan holds maybe 3 quarts, so I filled it by pouring the water through one of those fine-wire-mesh coffee filter thingies, the one I use to filter my milk. This was to catch any fish poop or jelly globs.....you know who you are, the one who put that lovely thought into my obsessive head!

I have it on the wood stove and add more water as it evaporates away. It is down to the last two quarts now. At night or if I leave for a long time, I take it off the heat. The heat has been low as it has been unseasonably warm here this week, so it never boiled.

I expect salt soon! Here is a very nice link to a site that I found quite interesting.... Neat company: http://www.maineseasalt.com/sea-salt-faq.html

 

[big brown horse]

This was to catch any fish poop or jelly globs.....you know who you are, the one who put that lovely thought into my obsessive head!

Yea free!! If it works, I'm next.

 

[Occamstazer]

This is so cool! I'm with BBH, I want to try it next

Also, free, you have a woodstove? I am quivering with envy. We had a woodstove when I was a kid, I miss it terribly.

 

[freemotion]

Yes, we do! I'm not as thrilled with it as I was the little Fisher airtight stove my folks had when I was a kid....that thing was a dream to start and control a fire in. Mine is an insert, so only a small part sticks out into my livingroom, just enough to balance a couple of pots on it, and it is hard to regulate and hard to start a fire in when it is cold. But it came with the house, and I am very happy to have it! We partially heat with it, and I am always looking to get some extra use from the heat.

 

[enjoy the ride]

Why do you keep adding water? Have you thought about pollution adding heavy metals to your salt? How much salt per gallon of water? Do you think there could be metal from the pot from leaving it so long?
I'm really interested in this - I live near one of the cleasest areas of ocean in the west. Just something to know I guess..............

 

[freemotion]

I add water because my only enamelled pot isn't big enough....and I'm thinking the enamel will be safe......right? As for heavy metals....always a worry, but can my homemade be any worse than what I could buy?

That is my thought process, anyways!

My research, and other's, seems to indicate that I could get a whopping three ounces or more from each gallon. If that is the case, with the woodstove going full-time all winter, along with some careful planning and stocking up of sea water, I could really save some bucks, since I use good sea salt for lots of things and would like to use it for everything...but I do resort to kosher or canning salt for the large quantity projects, like boiled peanuts. If I had a larger, basically free supply, I'd use it for everything.

I'm on the edge of my seat on this one....

 

[Wifezilla]

Kind of like making maple syrup eh?

 

[Dace]

I am still concerned about concentrating pollutants....and I know that you are keenly aware of these things, so tell me how you determined that this was safe?

I would love to try it.

 

[miss_thenorth]

http://www.heavymetalstest.com/

 

[Blackbird]

I'm not sure which would be safer, however, remember she IS boiling all this water down. Boiling water often makes polluted water safe to drink, or at least it has in the past. I'm not sure if the chemicals would bind to the salts somehow, or would they evaporate? I'm not sure.

On the other hand - how does someone process sea salt to begin with..?

On a side note, many years ago we were hiking somewhere for some reason. We were walking through tall grass, along side the road. I tripped over this large white crystal type rock. We brought it home, tasted it. Salt. A large salt rock. How cool is that? We still have it too.

The universe gives Sally pigs, I get minerals.

Sally, want to meet up? I can salt your pork for you!

Edited because apparently I cannot spell, read, type, or comprehend.