About Kosher Neti Pot Salt (Pickling Salt)

After all, this big-grained, big-box breed of salty goodness is affordable, easy to find, and terrific for salting the rim of your margarita glass. But is it the best choice for your nasal irrigation experience?

Let's review the benefits and potential drawbacks of this popular choice for neti pot salt.

Advantages: Super-cheap, easy to get.
Disadvantages: Often very coarse. As always, double-check the label.

If you're looking for a cheap neti pot salt solution, and you don't mind working a little harder for it, pickling salt is a popular alternative.

See the upper-right corner of the label? It advertises that the salt is perfect for pickling That's a great sign that the salt is free of iodine and anti-caking agents. If you're a real do-it-yourselfer and don't mind working a little harder to make sure coarse crystals dissolve, pickling salt is a super-affordable, kosher neti pot salt solution. Photo Credit: www.neti-netti-pot.com. Ok to use with attribution.

As always, check the label to be sure, but see this salt on the left? When you read the ingredients, it just says, "Salt." No iodine. No anti-caking ingredients. Nothing fancy schmancy. Just pure salt.

And there's no fine print to wade through either.

But there's only one problem. Usually, these crystals are coarse. This is good for salting the rim of your margarita, but bad for irrigating your sinuses if the salt isn't fully dissolved.

This means you might have to work a little harder and wait a little longer for your salt crystals to dissolve in your neti pot solution. For me, I find it still takes under a minute for the crystals to dissolve, not a TON of time. So, if you're the patient and hard-working type, this can really pay off.

See that box to the left? It cost me under two dollars. Guess how many quarter-teaspoon servings it contains.

(Go ahead. I'll wait.)

It contains over a thousand servings. Technically, it's 1,133 to be exact, but who's counting? Needless to say, I could irrigate my sinuses for three years running for the price of three candy bars. What a deal!

If Scrooge used a neti pot, kosher neti pot salt would be his favorite choice, for sure.

And Now for a Bit of Kosher Neti Pot Salt Trivia. Ever wonder why this type of Kosher salt is often called pickling salt? It's because way back when people canned their own fruits and vegetables, there was a need to keep some kinds of salt extra-pure, meaning completely free of iodine and anti-caking agents.

The reason? Iodine can darken canned fruit over time, and anti-caking agents don't exactly dissolve in water, which can result in un-fruit-friendly floaties -- not exactly attractive in your jar of canned peaches, huh?