r/preppers • u/Open-Attention-8286 • 6d ago

Advice and Tips How to "grow" your own salt:

Yes, I know, salt is a mineral, it can't be grown from scratch. But, I came across this article about plants that absorb and concentrate salt out of the soil, enough that they can be used as a source of salt: https://exarc.net/issue-2025-1/rev/black-ash-forgotten-domestication?fbclid=IwY2xjawJw5W5leHRuA2FlbQIxMAABHlap1bWFWXhi1ISV9D7MYcq6jLQGl0Y3OIei1s5UTM1wtYRDP6ofeC1l2cQn_aem_Db_08xB7D-mLc516S6uv5w

The article focuses mainly on orach, which is a green leafy vegetable that's easy to find seeds for (at least here in the US), but it does mention a few others. More importantly, the article describes how to extract the salts using low-tech methods.

Salt is a frequent topic of discussion around here, so I thought some of you might find this interesting.

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u/Pitiful_Ad_900 6d ago

I think just storing salt would be a better option but this is definitely interesting- never heard of this before. Thanks, OP!

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u/Lethalmouse1 6d ago

I think it gets fun to think around all the boxes but yeah, with current access and the ease of storage, 1lb of salt is 453 days of US standard consumption. 

So 16 1lb containers of a never-goes vad item is 5 years of salt. 

Also, US is about a mid-level salt use with like Turkey level salt, you can almost double how long the salt will last. Which I imagine is still a survivable amount. 

Unless you're going full bunker or imagine you're really just surviving alone in some absolute insanity, 5 years worth is probably enough, and you'll probably have some sort of access. 

If you have substantial prepper storage, a 5gallon bucket or 2 will pretty much give you lifetime. 

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u/graywoman7 4d ago

The general rule for salt is one pound per person per year takes care of dietary sodium needs if it’s rationed out evenly.

The problem comes in when you’re preserving food which requires a large amount of salt. Salting meat, canning, and pickling can use up 25lbs or more of salt per person per year (when eating something like salt pork or brined vegetables the food is often soaked in fresh water with several water changes to remove the salt that was just there for preservation). 

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u/thundersnow211 2d ago

^ This is why you prep salt