Salt is all around us, in more ways than we know. Of course, we know we salt our food, but culinary salt makes up only 6 percent of use. It is used in agriculture, in commercial enterprises, in chemical compositions, in urban locations - salting the streets in icy weather, something we don't know much about in the South.
As minerals go, salt (sodium chloride) is essential for human and animal life, as well as for some plants. As long as history as been recorded, man has needed salt. Of course, salt is available at the seashore by evaporating sea water. However, salt was deposited millions of years ago when the great seas which covered much of the world evaporated. These deposits have formed enormous underground caverns of salt, along with veins of salt which often are open to the surface of the earth. These exposed veins of salt, called salt licks, attracted animals who came to get valuable salt for their bodies. Our earliest ancestors followed the animals to these salt licks. As early as 6,000 BC it is documented that the Chinese were evaporating water from a salt lake.
Throughout recorded history, salt has created cities and dynasties and has also brought down the same. For example, the salt mines in what is now Poland grew into a salt empire in the 16th century, bringing much wealth to that area. That same empire was destroyed when Germanic sources began to import sea salt, which was much less expensive in time and manpower to produce, and which also had a superior taste to rock salt. Several Salt Roads, similar to the Silk Road, developed through Asia and Europe. Always looking to make more income, areas along the route charged heavy taxes on the salt moving through their area.
The gabelle - a French tax on salt - was put into place in 1286. Because of this heavy tax on a necessary commodity, populations shifted, people left areas, and wars were fought. Among the entities who went to war for salt were Christopher Columbus, the cities of Venice and Genoa, the Duke of Bavaria, the British in the American Revolution. President Thomas Jefferson mentioned in Congress that a "mountain of salt, 180 miles long and 45 wide" was thought to lie near the Missouri River, as a reason for Lewis and Clark to undertake their exploration of the Louisiana Territory. As for cities formed because of salt, cities in Britian whose names end in the suffix "wich" meant these places were sources of salt. Four of these cities, Middlewich, Nantwich, Northwich and Droitwich are known as the "Domesday Wiches" because they were metioned in the Domesday Book, a survey of Britian ordered by William the Conqueror after his conquest in 1066 and completed by 1085. It is the oldest surviving public record in the Western Hemisphere.
The history of salt is also filled with literary and social references. Some of these are:
l The word "Salary" is based on the word salt.
l "Not worth his salt" is based on the Greek practice of using salt as a monetary element to purchase slaves.
l Saying "take it with a grain of salt" could refer to being cautious.
l "Below the salt" comes from the medieval custom of placing the salt nearest the host and honored guests at the end of the table. Those people of lesser status were consigned to the opposite end of the table, thereby being "below the salt".
l "With all thine offerings thou shalt offer salt" - Moses "Leviticus"
l "You are the salt of the earth" - Jesus
l "Salting the earth" refers to the practice of plowing salt into fields of an enemy
Salt comes in many colors and crystal shapes other than the small grained white salt most of us are familiar with. Before the 20th century most salt was evaporated from salted water. Depending on the minerals in the water, the salt can be different colors: pink, black, brown, red, and others. Some of the crystals are larger, giving a definite crunch in the mouth. These salts are often used as "finishing salts" so that the crunch can be enjoyed. The different minerals also give a different taste to these salts.
Morton's Salt in the familiar blue box, with the logo showing a girl with an opened umbrella, scattering salt behind her, along with the motto, "When it rains, it pours" promoted the addition of magnesium carbonate to its product in 1911 to keep the salt from clumping in damp weather. Today the agent has been changed to calcium silicate. Besides agents to assist in pouring freely, iodine is also added to offset the effects of iodine deficiency. Iodine deficiency affects over two billion people world-wide. This deficiency can be corrected easily by adding minute amounts of iodine to normal table salt.
My favorite way to enjoy salt, besides on a perfect summer tomato, is on freshly dug new potatoes. We call these simply, Salt Potatoes. Begin with a bowl of freshly dug potatoes, dug as early in the season as possible, so that the potatoes are about marble sized. Boil them in a pot of heavily salted water. When the potatoes are soft enough to be pierced with a knife, drain the potatoes and put them back into the cooking pot. Let the potatoes steam just a minute to remove the excess water. Pour the potatoes into a bowl and cover liberally with good unsalted butter and freshly ground black pepper and a sprinkle of sea salt. Sit down with a fork, a glass of cold milk and enjoy the clean taste of a fresh potato, butter and salt.
Fran Ginn is former chef/owner of The Back Door Café, who retired after 31 years in the food industry to be a grandmother. She can be contacted at fran@franginn.com.
