Where to Buy Saltpeter

by Rick Goldman

One of the least known substances has some of the most common uses is saltpeter.

Because this substance is not well known, it can be deceptively difficult to buy.

Saltpeter has dozens of uses, most of them being practical uses for everyday activities as well as work-related activities. There are a lot of things about saltpeter that many do not understand or know about, and once you learn about what saltpeter is used for, you’ll be able to find places where it can be bought.

If you can figure out what kinds of things you need saltpeter for and how often you do them, you’ll be able to discover how much saltpeter you might need.

Where to Buy Saltpeter
Where to Buy Saltpeter

When you learn about these things, you’ll be able to effectively buy the right amount of saltpeter, this way you will not need to worry about needing to acquire more.

As you will learn, saltpeter is also a scarce substance, and the best strategy to acquire it is to procure enough of it at one time.

What Exactly Is Saltpeter?

Saltpeter is a compound that is borne from potassium nitrate. The function of potassium nitrate is to oxidize. Oxidizing is a process that is necessary in a host of not only compounds, but other substances and even everyday items. The process of oxidizing is, of course, to provide things with oxygen on a chemical level. This process is extremely useful when it comes to things that do not get enough oxygen in an organic way.  There are a surprising amount of things that can run out of oxygen very quickly, and saltpeter is used to somewhat preserve these kinds of things.

Where To Buy Saltpeter
Where To Buy Saltpeter

While saltpeter does not directly cause this oxidizing process, it does assist in it.

One of the reasons why saltpeter is so rare is because acquiring the resources necessary to manufacture it involves great lengths.  To provide an example of this, one of the most common places that contain the potassium nitrate necessary to create the saltpeter are caves that contain a high concentration of bat droppings.

How many places like this do you know exist? Are they as common as a farm or a factory? Not quite. That is why saltpeter is as rare as it is.

What Is Saltpeter Used In?

As mentioned earlier, saltpeter has dozens of uses. Here are a few of the more significant uses for saltpeter.

Saltpeter is used in meat processing and most food processing. While this has halted in most meats that are found in a meat market, saltpeter is still used to preserve deli meats and lunch meats.

Sodium nitrite, which is a variation of saltpeter, is a food additive and can also preserve a large amount of foods. If you work in a food processing plant, the chances are good that you will need saltpeter for preservation.

Where To Buy Saltpeter
Where To Buy Saltpeter

Another thing that saltpeter is used in is fertilizer. Plants need nitrogen and potassium for nutrients. The potassium levels in saltpeter provide it. The difference between saltpeter and common fertilizer is that there are more additives in fertilizer. Using saltpeter as a fertilizer is much more effective.

In some very unusual cases, saltpeter can be used for certain toothpastes. The potassium content of saltpeter makes this possible.

These are just a few uses of saltpeter. Remember that acquiring saltpeter is not easy. Before figuring out how and where saltpeter can be acquired, you need to develop a strategy that revolves around how much of this compound you need.

How Much Saltpeter Do You Need?

First of all, saltpeter is measured in grams. And of course, different amounts of saltpeter are required for different situations.

You’ll need right around 500 grams of saltpeter to successfully cure meat. From this, you can measure the amount of meat you wish to prepare against the amount of saltpeter you will need for the meat that you need to cure.

Working from there, you can budget exactly how much meat you need to cure and how many grams of saltpeter you will need to cure it. If you work in a meat market or a place that sells meat, you will need to make sure that you will always have saltpeter on hand.

Where To Buy Saltpeter
Where To Buy Saltpeter

In this case, saltpeter can be directly bought by the gram. When it comes to using saltpeter for fertilizer, you do not have this luxury. You will need to get a little creative.

Enter a product called “stump remover,” which contains almost the exact same kind of potassium nitrate that pure saltpeter contains. If you need saltpeter for more powerful fertilizer, you’ll need to settle for stump remover since it is practically impossible to buy saltpeter in large amounts.

The amount of stump remover that you will need largely depends on what needs to be fertilized and how much needs to be fertilized. Like with those who need to use saltpeter to cure meat, you’ll need to measure how much stump remover you will need for the garden.

Also Read: Noodle Vs Spaghetti

Where Can Saltpeter Be Bought?

In the case of stump remover that is as close to saltpeter without actually being saltpeter, you can simply buy it at your local garden store.

When you do this, make sure you are looking for stump remover and not regular fertilizer. The stump remover will do a much better job at fertilizing.

Pure saltpeter that is used to cure meats is a little more complicated. When it comes to pure saltpeter, you’ll need to go online since pure saltpeter is not sold in stores. You can go to websites such as this one to purchase pure saltpeter online.

Where To Buy Saltpeter
Where To Buy Saltpeter

This is also the case if you need saltpeter for anything else that is on a small scale and not a large scale like fertilizer. As rare as it is, there are ways to procure saltpeter. Whether you are using it to cure meat, as fertilizer, or for any other purpose, you will need to measure how much of it you will need before looking for places to procure it.

Because of how scarce saltpeter is, you will need to develop a strategy like this before heading out and purchasing the saltpeter that you might need.

Determine what you need saltpeter for, the amount of saltpeter that you need for the amount of time that you will need it for, and go from there. Because saltpeter is nothing except potassium nitrate, it does not go bad. Feel free to stock up on as much of it as you need.

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About Rick Goldman

Rick Goldman's grandpa was a captain of a California coast cruise. This afforded Rick the luxury of traveling to exciting places along the Pacific Coast as a young boy. He got to try different, exotic foods on these journeys - something he really enjoys blogging about from his grandpa's beautiful garden home today.


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