TricksterWolf t1_j9ff2ye wrote
Reply to comment by _Odi_Et_Amo_ in Gritting routes are ‘sexist’ says Cambridgeshire highways chief and ‘must change’ by Bald__egg
Just FYI, rock salt is not salt mixed with rocks. It's salt crystals mined directly out of the ground (rather than evaporated from seawater or runoff).
Rock salt is most often used without grit in it. It's cheaper when it isn't food-grade.
_Odi_Et_Amo_ t1_j9fmsp8 wrote
In a culinary setting you'd be right, in a road salting setting it's slightly more complicated.
You can get very fine halites (rock salt as you say) mined as an alternative source to sea salt.
Council gritters (clues in the name) use rough mined rocksalt which is mixed with sand and other aggregates and usualy screened to ~ 10 mm to make it amenable to spreading this definitely does contain small stones and grit and is why you get gritty sandy buildup on roads during gritting season that won't wash directly away when it rains (as a motorcyclist this is a nightmare as it tends to build up on crosshatch and makes filtering extra dangerous.
I agree it's not particularly helpful we just use rock salt to describe both materials though.
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