Doug Freyburger > wrote in news:igl84s$s1i$1
@news.eternal-september.org:

> When you add salt to water you change its boiling temperature. This has
> an effect on veggies that are boiled in it. My best guess is adding
> salt when steaming is a habit followed because it works when boiling.
> It's a carry over from boiling to steaming.

That works with potatoes or other vegetables that are submerged in the
water, but steam is steam. Water boils when it reaches 100C, and steam has
that temperature. Adding salt increases the water's boiling point (it will
boil at a higher temperature) but the difference is negligible.

"Among many urban legends related to the effect of ebullioscopic increase,
one of them leads to adding salt when cooking pasta only after water has
started boiling. The misconception is that if it takes longer for water to
boil, then the temperature of the water will increase faster. However, at
the approximate concentration of salt in water for cooking (10 g of salt
per 1 kg of water, or 1 teaspoon per quart), the ebullioscopic increase is
approximately 0.17°C (0.31°F)."

Whoop-te-doo!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boiling-point_elevation

--

On the first day God created the sun - so the Devil countered
and created sunburn. On the second day God created sex. In
response the Devil created marriage. On the third day God created
an economist. This was a tough one for the Devil, but in the end
and after a lot of thought he created a second economist!

http://www.blabbinit.com/content/god-created-economist