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Salt Crystal Recipes

Suketu Mehta
Salt crystals have numerous benefits. And the best part is, you can easily make them at home. This write-up provides a few recipes for the same.
In most minerals, atoms have a recurring pattern, and follow a three-dimensional pattern. Due to this, a mineral has the ability to form a normal crystal with flat sides. Certain crystals have the ability to develop into cubes, while others develop with more than two sides. The latter is known as a prism.
The most common use of salt is as a preservative. It is included in various beauty products and soaps. It is also known to have excellent cleansing properties, and hence, included in our diet.
Salt crystal lamps are used to cleanse the air. In ancient times, it was also used to preserve dead bodies in tombs. Some civilizations are known to have been trading it in ancient days.
Salt crystals are formed in ocean, lakes, and gulf beds all across the world. It is also obtained through mining rock deposits in certain countries. The ones used in lamps and candle-holders are obtained from the Himalayan mountain ranges in India.
The mineral content in the crystal determines its color. That is the reason why the unrefined ones can be of any color. However, once refined, they are broken down, and are always white in color. They are classified depending upon the place where they are collected, and the process of refinement. Here are a few recipes to make salt crystals.

Making Salt
Salt, sugar, and alum crystals are often made at home. The basics for all of these materials remain same, wherein, you need to let the chemical dissolve in water, and let the water evaporate or cool the solution, which automatically crystallizes the substance.

Using Common Salt

  • Pour 1 cup of water in a vessel and allow it to boil.
  • After it has boiled, pour it into a glass container or jar.
  • Add a teaspoon of salt to this jar of water. Stir it carefully and slowly, one teaspoon at a time. Avoid hurrying in this step.
  • Keep repeating these step till you notice the salt ceases to dissolve any further, but rather starts getting accumulated at the bottom of the jar.
  • You can now select a color to give to the crystals. Add about two drops of food coloring of the desired color to the mixture.
  • Take a pencil, and tie a string around one of its ends. At the other end, attach a paper clip.
  • Keep the pencil on the jar in such a manner that the paper clip touches the bottom of the jar, while the string hangs down from the top.
  • Let the jar remain as it is at a place where no one will touch it.
  • After 24 hours, check the jar and you will find cubical shaped crystals forming on the paper clip.

Using Epsom Salt

  • Boil 1 cup of water, and pour it in an empty glass bowl. Keep adding one teaspoon of epsom salt at a time, and stirring the mixture slowly. Do this till the salt dissolves no further, and starts collecting at the bottom of the jar.
  • Add a few drops of the food color of your choice which you would like to give the crystals on a couple of charcoal briquettes.
  • Let these two charcoal briquettes remain at the bottom of the jar.
  • Keep the glass bowl at a place where no one will disturb it.
  • After 5 days, you will notice prism shaped crystals forming in the bowl.
You can improvise the recipes by substituting the paper clip with any other substance. Also, you can use rock salt instead of table salt. Remember to cover the glass jar or bowl with a paper towel to prevent any dust from entering into it.