Salt

Salt: A World History August 27, 1883 by Mark Kurlansky, Penguin Books, 2003. 

First of all, salt is needed by humans to live. And not just people, but also domesticated animals need salt. Secondly, salt has been used for thousands of years to preserve food. Salt prevents decay. Salted food keeps without spoiling, over time and distance. Foods protected with salt: fish (sardines are salted fish from Sardinia), red herring, shrimp, cheese, pickles, sauerkraut, ham, corned beef, sausage, salami, prosciutto, corned beef. Smoking food allows a smaller amount of salt to be used. Aged cheeses contain salt. Italian ricotta cheese does not contain salt.

For thousands of years salt had been made by evaporating sea water, by the Chinese, Romans, Etruscans, Sicilians, Phoenicians, Venetians, Celts, and Dutch. A later innovation was a series of connected evaporating ponds, with increasing salinity. The Chinese started drilling for underground salt in 252 B.C. Their pipes were made out of bamboo. Soy sauce originated in China and was adopted by Japan. The Celts mined cast from the Alps. The Celts invented ham. Historically, governments have often enforced a monopoly on salt. They have also taxed it. During the Middle Ages, salt caravans traversed the Sahara Desert. Other topics in this book include: the Dead Sea, Venetian salt traders, Edmund McIllhenny and Tabasco sauce, and Gandhi’s walk to the sea to make salt.