Salt cures: more than just keeping yourself and your kids healthy in the winter months.

Did you know about the healing powers of salt? It’s a germ-killing, infection-busting cleaner. One caveat: These salt-based solutions aren’t likely to be popular with your kids. Nevertheless, here are three salty strategies to stave off the sniffles:

• Squirt it: A 2008 Czech research project tested “nasal washing” (squirting saltwater into kids’ noses) as a remedy. Snotty 6- to 10-year-olds were either treated with standard medication alone, or with standard medication plus nasal washing. The results are nothing to sneeze at: Sore throats, coughs, and stuffy and/or runny noses were massively reduced after nasal washing, with about half as many sick days and school absences.

• Pour it: A neti pot is another way to irrigate your child’s eight sinus canals. It’s a teapot of sorts that lets you slowly pour warm saltwater into one nostril so it flows through the nasal cavity and out the other nostril, flushing out moist and dry mucus and providing anti-bacterial protection against infections. (Hint: Use un-iodized salt: It’s less irritating to sensitive membranes, and always use distilled, purified, or boiled-then-cooled water to avoid brain-threatening amoeba or parasites that may inhabit tap water.)

• Gargle it: Gargling with salt water to prevent sore throats is a smart, savvy practice according to Dr. Mark Moyad, author of Dr. Moyad’s No BS Diet Health Advice. Another gung-ho gargling endorsement: A 2005 study in Japan concluded that, “This virtually cost-free [prevention] would appreciably benefit the general population.”

Around 15,000 tonnes of salt is harvested each year in the south east of Mallorca, in Salines de Colonia Saint Jordi.

Man-made salt lakes are formed by pumping sea water from Es Trenc (purified en-route) where salt crusts in hot and windy conditions. Some of these crusts are used to make gourmet salt, a growing business as demand for high quality, natural ingredients increases.

These crusts are skimmed by hand, dried and prepared for sale. Known as ‘Flor de Sal’ (sea blossom salt), this is not your ordinary table salt. It has higher concentrations of magnesium, potassium, calcium and micronutrients which makes it better for human health.

Some of the salt is flavoured – you can get herbal seasoning such as thyme or rosemary or go for more exotic flavours including orange-chilli, hibiscus, and truffle – and the salt can be bought in good delicatessens throughout Mallorca, or online.