I use one for salt. I prefer a coarse grind sea salt and that doesn't work in a shaker :-) And yes, I pinch with dry fingers. Since I like my pepper to be freshly ground, I also have a pepper grinder at hand. I don't use enough to make grinding it ahead each day practical.

No.

I use pink, heart shaped le creuset ramekins with little lids on them for that purpose. I keep them next to the stove, they look exceedingly cute there, and I do find them more convenient than hauling out my big box of kosher salt or black pepper. If anything sticks to my fingers I just brush it off, I clean my floor often enough to were it doesn't matter. But mostly my fingers would be dry going in anyway.

They are called Salt Cellars or Open Salts. I have been collecting them for decades. The first one came from my grandmother along with a tiny pewter spoon. The collection numbered more than 500 and have been added to from travels all over the world. The larger sizes are Masters. I use one for each guest at a dinner party and have given many away to family members. Everyone loves them and they come in glass, cobalt blue crystal, cut crystal, pressed glass, wood, metal, china and even bone. Every crystal company made them and some might still.

Fingers are used to take a pinch and sprinkle on food.

Not a user here either. Our high humidity ensures any salt left out in the open will solidify in no time. My salt and pepper are in clear glass grinders with lids.

And old school flip top shakers

Plus, I prefer to use a spoon for salt when cooking, so I can more accurately gauge the amount I'm putting in.

I have 2 salt cellars -- one in my prep area and one near the stove. I prefer pepper grinders and also have 2 of those.

I have an old Kaukauna-type lidded jar for salt, with a little spoon (a small plastic coffee scoop that came with a can of coffee) so I can use my fingers if they are dry, or the spoony if they are not or if I need more than pinch. There is also a salt shaker, sometimes it’s the thing to use.

Speaking of salt shakers/bowls, this just showed up on my FB feed - pretty funny! https://l.facebook.com/l.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.instagram.com%2Freel%2FCvhg4KQLiYg%2F&h=AT2hc0bt8xRx2sNDeLp61Sg4wr64g1Sgy2vZfWNqjkZNl0CNXe6ziqY5GnH91XjnxHjF_PmBDvbQ-JqN6rDeB4hMJ3RTuLqsMxRuB2n45DglgBmvV1em9-P4Jw_6O3na2tJ-rKcRkl7QIIQ&s=1

I call them salt pigs (they generally have tiny spoons), and I have one like this that my sister gave me. I also have some tiny wooden salt bowls that I bought in Fiji, and I bought four of them so that I could give a couple as gifts, but I decided to keep them. They could be used at a dining table for guests, but I've not done that yet. I put coarse salt in my salt pig - either sea salt or Kosher, and I use this when cooking.

I use pepper mills for pepper, and I have a collection of those. I use a brass Turkish coffee grinder in the kitchen for black pepper, and it makes quick work of grinding peppercorns.

Since I use a lot of chilies in my cooking, I do not use very much black pepper - I generally prefer the flavor of chilies, but there are a few cases in which I want black pepper, but not very many.

I have a collection of MCM teak and walnut salt & pepper shakers, but they are more decorative than practical.

I never use my fingers for salt or pepper - I always use spoons instead. The salt pig is one of the better gifts my sister has given me.

I use very little salt so I use a large salt shaker to salt my food at the stove. We mostly use a lot of salt in this country and if you cut back on salt you cant really eat processed foods. Too salty.

As a beside. All salt is sea salt. If you are using salt that doesn't come from a present ocean it comes from an ancient one even if it is from the center of a continent. Calling salt sea salt is mostly a reason to charge you more for it. Just saying as in where do people think salt comes from? Concentrated deposits from ancient seas.

As I learned it, the ones with little spoons are salt cellars, and the ones without are salt pigs - but I'm not entirely sure and don't much care.

I have a round bamboo one next to the stove and use it without washing and drying my hands (but I wash my hands before starting to cook). Yes, sometimes my fingers are moist and I do get little balls of stuck-together salt in my salt pig, but not often. I can't imagine using a spoon or shaker because I don't know how much is in a spoon the way I can feel how much is in my fingers or palm. I know that sounds weird, but I just kind of developed a feel for how much I want to add over the last 45 years of cooking. If I have too much in my fingertips, I toss the excess in the sink after I've added what I think is the right amount.

Mine has a swivel lid with a light magnetic closure, and I bought it on Amazon at least 4 or 5 years ago.

I have salt cellars with various salts in them that I use. All have attachable lids that slide to open and all come with a little spoon that sits in a slot. I don't like it when I see people using their fingers and double dipping. It is okay when it is your own food but if you are making meals for others I don't like them.

I just purchased an Acacia wood salt box for coarse sea salt. I'd been using my fingers for pinches, but I own tiny spoons that would be fine too. I use pepper grinders, I have several, a collection I've acquired over the years.

Freshly milled for pepper and coarse sea salt pinched out of the box for salt. Both kept by the stove. Pepper loses flavour fast if pre ground. No salt or pepper on the table. As for 'sea salt', yes, all salt began in the sea but 'sea salt' is a clearly understood culinary term referring to salt obtained by evaporating sea water as opposed to 'rock salt' extracted from the ground.

No but DH has made them for our adult offspring and sells a ton of them. I've never considered/imagined a cook stopping to wash hands as they add spices. Some have a towel or apron used to wipe hands as they go. Don't forget HEAT tends to kill so I think one is pretty safe using these. Never heard of anyone getting ill.

I use the pour spout on the kosher salt, and then pinch it from my palm

P.S. I wondered about the difference in name. The answer: " (a.k.a salt boxes, salt keepers, salt pigs—pig is supposedly the old Scottish word for pot" (from Serious Eats)

“As a beside. All salt is sea salt. If you are using salt that doesn't come from a present ocean it comes from an ancient one even if it is from the center of a continent. Calling salt sea salt is mostly a reason to charge you more for it. Just saying as in where do people think salt comes from? Concentrated deposits from ancient seas.”

As a poster (dcarch?) on CF once pointed out, the ancient mined stuff doesn’t contain the micro plastics from today’s seas.

That aside, I do enjoy the flakiness of Maldon salt as a finishing salt. Could it be recreated with mined salt? Probably, but it’s not.

My salt pig holds Diamond Crystal kosher salt. Pepper is only fresh ground.

I just find it all interesting. Did you know you can make your own salt flakes? It is just a matter of dissolving salt in water on the stove and pouring it into a dish to evaporate. The slower the evaporation the larger the flakes. Use Kosher salt because it has no additives in it like anti caking stuff. one cup of salt to four cups of water and heat till it is all dissolved-add some water if it doesn't. Pour into a glass dish and set it someplace to dry. You can dehydrate if you like. Since most mined salt is mined with water pumped into the ground to dissolve the salt and then dried I wonder that they don't make flake salt since people like it. When you make flake salt if you have some on hand you can toss a pinch into your cooled brine to start the crystallization process. It helps form the crystal shape you prefer.

I always grind my pepper fresh as well.

I've been wanting one of those salt boxes/containers to have next to my stove. Some of them come with a tiny spoon that fits in a grooved area inside the container. I would prefer to use a spoon, but there's probably no harm in using fingers. Any bacteria that can survive in coarse salt is probably already in it, and white, refined table salt has almost none. Now, I just have to decide whether I want a wooden box, or a Le Creuset ramekin like Amy's.

Over time I've evolved to using salt ground from coarse crystals for foods that are wet or damp (to allow the salt to dissolve and disperse) and normal fine crystal table salt for items that are dry. For soups, sauces and the like, ground coarse sale is fine. For sprinkling on salads and meat, I prefer table salt.

Thinking that maybe we weren't consuming enough iodine, I've tried to use more plain iodized salt in my cooking. (Cooking is a shared task in the house). I've found I've been feeling a bit better since doing so though of course there's no way to know if it's had an effect.