Saltsale

Most people probably think of salt as simply that white granular food seasoning found in a salt shaker on virtually every dining table.

It is that, surely, but it is far more. It is an essential element in the diet of not only humans but of animals, and even of many plants. It is one of the most effective and most widely used of all food preservatives (and used to preserve Egyptian mummies as well). Pre-civilization “salt men” represent a significant contemporary archeological research source. And the oldest as well. Its industrial, medical and other uses are almost without number. In fact, salt has great current as well as historical interest, and is even the subject of humorous cartoons, music, “art” and poetry. Sometimes, however, we need to separate the salt to get the history. And there’s a lot of history to get ( 1 2 3 4 5 ). There’s even a 2002 book by Mark Kurlansky, Salt: A World History.

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Besides making foods delicious, it’s believed there are more than 14,000 uses of salt, and our grandmothers were probably familiar with most of them. Many of these uses were for simple things around the home before the advent of modern chemicals and cleaners. However, many uses are still valid today and a lot cheaper than using more sophisticated products.

The most familiar use of salt undoubtedly is in the kitchen and on the dining table. Salt accents the flavor of meat, brings out individuality of vegetables, puts “oomph” into bland starches, deepens the flavor of delicate desserts and develops flavor of melons and certain other fruits. No other seasoning has yet been found that can satisfactorily take the place of salt. But there are other uses around the home, too.

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Imagine how much salt magnates would charge for the most exotic salt of all, the stuff discovered this week by NASA’s Mars Odyssey orbiter. From BBC News

Mars appears to be covered in salt crystals from ancient dried-up lakes, new evidence suggests.

A Nasa probe has found signs that the southern hemisphere is dusted with chloride mineral, perhaps “table salt”.

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