S is for… Salt

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Collection of vintage salt & pepper shakers | H is for Home

Essential for seasoning… salt and pepper need storing, sprinkling, pinching, grinding and shaking. There are endless possibilities to enable all these things.

Starting with the traditional matching salt & pepper pots… they’re made from pottery, glass, metal, plastic and wood.

Pair of Hornsea 'Rainbow' salt & pepper pots | H is for Home Vintage Hornsea 'Saffron' salt & pepper pots | H is for Home

Pair of vintage Staffordshire pottery salt & pepper pots | H is for Home Pair of two tone brown vintage pottery salt & pepper shakers | H is for Home

Pair of vintage stainless steel salt & pepper shakers H is for Home Pair of vintage teak and stainless steel salt & pepper pots | H is for Home

As these pots are often left on permanent display, it’s a great opportunity for showing off a bit of good design, striking pattern or flash of colour. These gorgeous Cathrineholm ‘Lotus’ examples (manufactured by Lyngby) manage to combine all three…

Vintage orange & white Cathrineholm Lotus salt and pepper pots | H is for Home

We also like pinch pots; they’re great for salt crystals or flakes – and coarse, ground pepper.

Pair of vintage John Clappison designed bird dishes being used as salt & pepper pinch pots | H is for Home

We keep these John Clappison-designed Hornsea pinch pots in our kitchen table. They were originally intended as ashtrays, but are the perfect size & shape for this alternative use.

Vintage John Clappison designed bird dishes being used as salt pinch pots | H is for Home

Larger pinch pots & salt pigs are great for keeping beside the stove for everyday cooking use.

Antique wooden cheese moulds being used as stove-side salt & pepper pinch pots | H is for Home

Antique wooden cheese moulds being used as stove-side salt & pepper pinch pots | H is for Home

These wooden pinch pots are actually antique cheese moulds – again they’re ideal for their new function.

A salt pig is one of the best containers to keep by the cooker as it allows for a good scoop or handful when adding to boiling water for pasta, rice, vegetables etc.

Vintage glazed pottery salt pig | H is for Home Vintage cream glazed pottery salt pig | H is for Home

If you prefer your salt in a sealed container there are lots of options here too!

Vintage Hornsea Pottery 'Bronte' lidded salt pot | H is for Home

Vintage pottery lidded salt pot | H is for Home

And finally grinders… these make light work of salt crystals & whole peppercorns – releasing aromas and flavours right at the point of serving.

The undoubted master of the grinder is designer Jens Quistgaard, with his numerous examples produced for Dansk Designs. There is, in fact, a book available entirely dedicated to the subject – Danish Pepper: Jens Quistgaard’s Teak Pepper Mills (Amazon)

Danish Pepper: Jens Quistgaard's teak pepper mills book available at AmazonAs you can see from the cover, their sculptural forms and beautiful grain makes for a stunning grouping. We’ve just decided that we may have to start a collection of our own!