Pass the Salt, Please: A Bitch in the Kitchen Extra

Salt has a really bad reputation.  They sell low-salt this and no-salt that because too much salt can cause high blood pressure, stroke, cardiovascular disease, ulcers, heartburn…even death, if you ingest enough (supposedly 1 gram per kilogram of body weight) in a short enough period of time.  (How long is that, I wonder??)  Side note: that last one sounds kinda neat and may wind up in my novel.

So what do we know about salt?  It’s a crystalline compound, sodium chloride.  It’s a mineral.  Abundant in nature.  A component of seawater.  Used to season and preserve food.  Our bodies need it in moderation.  It’s a noun, a verb and an adjective.  French fries wouldn’t be the same without it.  And I don’t think there’s a woman alive that will deny how fabulous chocolate is when consumed with nice, salty potato chips.

But when was the last time you heard something really interesting about salt?  Something not meant to scare you away from it??  

For instance…

When sea salt is extracted from seawater by evaporation, it yields about 66 pounds per cubic yard.  I actually found Dead Sea salt when I went to the German store a few weeks ago.  Since the Dead Sea is 1,300 feet below sea level, the mineral content is drastically different and therefore, the taste and color are different too.  Used it when making dinner tonight (which I guess is really last night, at this point) and it was delicious!

Since it’s necessary for life, the production is easily supervised and it can be used to for the long-term preservation of food, governments taxed it.  In the 13^th century, France created the gabelle tax to pay for a war.  From the time it was created, until the time it was abolished in 1790, the gabelle tax obligated individuals to purchase a certain amount of salt every year from the king’s storage houses…regardless of if they were going to use the salt or not.  It didn’t officially and completely come off the books until 1946.

Words with shared etymology include: sauce, salvation, sausage, silt, soused, salad, salary, salami and salsa.

The expression “not worth his salt” came about because in ancient Greece, they traded salt for slaves.  And while it’s not a practice I condone, it definitely illustrates that salt was considered a valuable commodity.

Salt has played a big part in a lot of religions…it’s mentioned more than 30 times in the Bible.  The ancient Hebrews and Greeks made offerings of salt during sacrifices.  The Shinto religion uses salt to purify an area.  Buddhists use it to ward off evil spirits.  In 1933, the 13^th Dalai Lama was buried sitting up in a bed of salt.  In India, salt is still a gift that is considered a symbol of good luck.  Some Native American tribes had restrictions on who was permitted to eat salt.  Hopi legend says that the Warrior Twins were angry and punished mankind by making salt deposits hard work to get to & mine.

Remember, in the kitchen, the primary function of salt is to enhance the flavor of food, not overpower it.  It’s there to stimulate the appetite and bring out the flavors.

So why all the salt talk?  Because tomorrow we’re brining!!