Umm, could it be for an ice cream maker? Not sure of this answer, as I've never made ice cream.

And, of COURSE this never happens to ME! Why, if it did, I'd have a pantry shelf full of items bought for mysterious and unremembered purposes. Oh, wait! I do!

To make things worse, when MIL moved to Assisted Living last year, she gave me a lot of food items, serving dishes, utensils, etc, from her apartment kitchen, as she would no longer have facilities for cooking. So now, my junk drawer is full of unidentified gadgets whose function is unknown to me--except one: I know it's for chopping walnuts.

Good luck figuring it out!

Sue

Nope, I don't do that either. That's why I have Pomegranite Molasses and powdered sumac and juniper berries and.....other stuff I don't remember. LOL

The rock salt? Maybe you were going to do one of those "fish baked in a salt crust" things like Alton Brown?

Nah....

I give up. Why DID you buy a jar of rock salt?

Annie

It's obvious....you were hoping to get a salt grinder.
Linda C...who has a use for everything in her kitchen and everything has a spot and is neatly arranged...
Yeah! Right!

Perhaps you were planning on serving oysters on the half shell, and would use the salt as a base to settle them into? After all, they are rather roly-poly otherwise.

Now, can you tell me why I bought about 1/4 cup worth of wheat germ?

Well, I do have a salt grinder...so that seems reasonable. However, this jar is taking up real estate and may become history.

Pomegranate Molasses...Beef brisket with PomMol??? To mix with evoo for dipping mix for a crispy bread? (Bread, wine and Elery??)

Sumac..good addition to hummus, also sprinkle on foccacio dough with dried thyme and call it Middle Eastern bread?

Juniper berries? Well, I don't think you're making your own gin, but they do give a good taste, again to a beef stew.

Wheat germ...to add to oatmeal, a T per serving? sprinkled on cereal? mixed into muffins? scones?

boy, I'm on a roll tonight! Sue, I'll have to take a look at your gadgets. Sounds like we need to get together. ;-)

OOOOOOhhhhhh.........Maybe you were going to make some of these!!!

Maybe you just wanted to make your driveway safer? I kept a jar of wheat germ in the fridge and when I needed it, STINKY! Last week, I found 3 small containers of wheat germ in the freezer. I'm really ready for the next time I need this. Just have to remember where it is, hahaha.

I, too, have a jar with rock salt in it. I've had it for years; the 80's, I think! Don't know why I bought it, but if I find a use - I'm set to go. I vaguely remember buying it about the same time that kosher salt was coming into vogue in cooking circles - long before sea salt became the rage. Maybe I'll use it to salt my icy steps since I obviously need to clean pantry more often.
Hester

Annie, believe it or not I just made a chicken dish tonight with pomegranate balsamic and seasoned with chicken stock, Murray River salt crystals and sumac! It adds a nice tang to foods. The Persians cook with it all the time and they have a shaker of it on the table too! We ate at a local place on Tuesday night--DH had chicken cooked in a pomegranate molasses sauce with ground walnuts. It's called Fesenjan-- I know that Jessy makes it too. Maybe that's where the bottle came from!

You were going to make some sort of pickles, and the rock salt was for brining the veges overnight. Probably bread/butter pickles.

Or maybe you were going to try brining some meat?

Never mind, just dissolve it in some water and pour it over your pathway weeds.

If it were in my pantry I'd be using it in about a month on the asparagus bed. Salt prevents and cures fusarium crown rot in asparagus.

Sue,
how about posting pictures of those unknown gadgets you got from you MIL? We might be able to help you identify them.

I was going to say to make ice cream, but Sue jumped on that right away. I have tons of stuff that seemed like a good idea to own at one time. Like the food mill that I have never used (from my aunt), or the over sink colander that is more trouble to wash than it is worth, or the six different plastic pitchers that I never use, or maybe the infamous spaghetti pot (my pot with the strainer lid works way better).

Oh wait, I have a different guess. You didn't have anything to use to bake a pie crust blind so so put foil in it and poured in the rock salt to hold it in shape. I just threw out a jar of beans that I used to use for that, and I have owned pie weights for about seven years... yuck!

Don't know why you bought it but I just have to say it sure is sitting on a beautiful counter!

I can't believe i am reading this....I have a bag of curing salt....you know that pink-ish stuff that contains nitrates?
It's been sitting in a vintage Keebler Saltine tin for...oh..I'd say about 18 years.
I can't toss it out...I might need it to rub on a ham before I hang it out in the smoke house!
Linda C

I bought some rock salt once because my husband loves the baked potatoes in a restaurant that apparently bakes them covered in salt. Tried it at home & he said the potatoes were too salty.

Ok, in honor of it being the end of the week, I'll give the uncouth answer. You're going to use it to make ice water for a cooler full of beer to cool it down fast.

(Somehow, I think all of the answers above are better, but I thought I'd throw it out there.)

:-)

Oysters Rockefeller, of course.

http://www.waterstreetco.com/san_antonio/images/food/oyster_rockefeller.jpg

Netla, that's a good idea! Maybe it's time for another "Name That Gadget" quiz.

Jcrowley, in preparation for our kitchen remodel a few years ago, I gave away, to a local charity, a lot of surplus kitchen items that might be useful to others (I think it was Fairegold who encouraged this). It was really liberating! Those things weigh you down with guilt that you OUGHT to be using them, yet you don't--for all the reasons you mentioned. When you pare down to the essentials, you have more cabinet space, and it's easier to grab whatever you need instead of having to make a choice. Sadly, my packrat habits have triumphed, and I'm building up a new cache of unneeded utensils. But it's the principle of the thing!

Sue

M, I think Dances' idea is a good one. But if not oysters, roasted shrimp on a bed of salt would make for great presentation. Don't toss the salt.

Sol

Most of mine were gifts.......
"As seen on TV" stuff that SOMEBODY thought I needed. Usually my mom.....

I feel guilty tossing it because the thought is what matters, yada, yada, yada..........

Hmmmmm...........Gadget Swaps????

I'll trade you 2 of those tong/whisk thingies that "they say" will pick up a dime. Shown picking up eggs.

What do YOU have??? (grin)

Deanna

The one thing that seems likely for the rock salt is oysters. However, the salt is now history, and I'll be back with my next 'why ever did I get this'.

I make a paste out of rock salt for prime rib.

I found a jar of grape jelly in my frig. I've never bought/eaten grape jelly in my life!

Was sure gremlins stuck in there.

Oh, wait...

it was for the smokies recipe I got from here made with grape jelly and chili sauce. Good stuff!

I don't suppose you had it for killing fish parasites in an aquarium?