What is salt pitting and how can I avoid it?

Salt can react with any brand of stainless steel cookware, including the lining of Falk Culinair pots and pans, particularly when this is added to water at the start of the cooking process rather than when the water is boiling.

This is a form of corrosion and occurs due to the interaction of the chloride in salt, oxygen in water, and chromium in stainless steel.

It typically occurs when larger salt crystals, such as coarse sea salt, sink to the bottom of the pan before the water is heated and are allowed to react with the stainless steel lining while the water is heating.

The easiest way to prevent this from occurring is to wait until the liquid is simmering, or better still, boiling, to add your salt and then ensure it dissolves into the solution as quickly as possible by stirring. At this temperature, there isn't enough oxygen in the water for the reaction that causes pitting to take place.