When to salt your water: Tips to preserve pots and save energy
Adding salt to water in a pot seems like a simple task. However, it turns out that you need to do it at the right moment. Otherwise, our pots will wear out faster, and our bills will increase.
Surprisingly, the seemingly simple question of when to salt the water for pasta or rice sparks much controversy. Each of us has our habits from home, but few realize that adding salt at the wrong time can affect the cooking quality and damage the pots.
When to salt the water?
Many salt the water for pasta or rice right after pouring it into the pot, even before placing it on the stove. This practice is one of the most common mistakes, which can gradually destroy our pots.
It turns out that salt added to cold water dissolves more slowly and reacts with the pot's metal surface.
As a result, a difficult-to-remove residue can form, and in the long run, it can even cause corrosion, especially if we use stainless steel pots. Although this process is slow, regularly salting cold water significantly speeds up the damage to the utensils.
When we salt the water too early, the condition of the pots suffers. Another negative effect of this mistake is the extended cooking time. Salted water has a higher boiling point, meaning it needs more energy and time to boil. For those who care about the household budget and energy consumption, this is an important issue—longer cooking times directly translate into higher electricity or gas bills.
The perfect timing
The answer is simple—water should only be salted when it starts to boil. When the water reaches the boiling point, the salt dissolves immediately, minimizing the pot's residue formation risk. Moreover, salted water reaches cooking temperature faster, making the process more efficient. This principle applies to cooking pasta, rice, and potatoes.
First, our pots will last longer, we'll avoid the formation of stubborn residues, and reduce the risk of corrosion. Second, we'll save time and energy because salted water that is added to boiling water will boil faster.
