Salt shakers have how many holes

Clearly, there is no universal standard at work here. Some say that a salt shaker should have more holes because of its favored status as a spice. Many people tend to shake a great deal of salt on their food and only sprinkle a little pepper. Therefore, the salt shaker should have more holes in order to improve the flow, while a pepper shaker should do all right with fewer holes. Others say that it's not the number of holes that makes a difference, it's the size of said holes.

Salt grains are thought to be larger than equivalent ground pepper flakes, so they should be put in a shaker with fewer, but larger, holes. Since ground pepper is lighter and dustier than salt, it requires more holes in order to flow out at a comparable rate. As if this weren't enough fodder for the controversy cannon, there is the "too much salt is too much" argument. With a number of people who are already on, or perhaps should be on, low sodium diets, many argue that the salt shaker should contain the fewest holes in order to prevent overuse.

Many people habitually shake the shaker without regard for the actual amount of salt escaping through the holes. Keep your questions coming to the Allrecipes Ask The Community. Selected questions will be answered here. Pin FB Share. Salt and Pepper Shakers. Salt-Pepper Shakers Via Pixabay. All rights reserved. This led to one theory on the shaker holes argument: Salt was necessary to sustain human life; therefore, people tended to use more of it—hence it went in the shaker with the most holes.

In the past few years, however, in this country especially, that tide has turned: Excessive salt was deemed unhealthy, so it was relegated to the shaker with the fewest holes. Because oversalting food can be problematic, fewer holes can be helpful. Or because salt pours more quickly than pepper, fewer holes makes sense. Others say it's not the number of holes that makes a difference but the size that matters. Since salt crystals are larger and tend to clump in humid conditions , their holes should be bigger.

However, after having shaken the dickens out of many a pepper shaker to yield only a dusting of product, I think it makes sense to put pepper in the shaker with the largest holes, so it flows at an acceptable rate. Many avoid the argument entirely by using glass or clear plastic shakers with an equal number of holes. When people realized the flavor of ground pepper dissipates considerably over time, pepper mills came into vogue, first as an add-on by servers in fancy restaurants.

Pepper mills are now standard issue on many restaurant tables, but the fate of salt is still being decided.