Salt

From the looks of it around here, I seem to have started a salt and pepper collection, even though sometimes all I have is the salt shaker.

 

Humans need salt to survive.  It helps maintain a proper balance of fluid in our blood.  It helps intestines absorb certain nutrients.  It transmits vital information to nerves and muscles.

Iodine deficiency affects about two billion people worldwide and is the most common preventable cause of brain damage.  Cretinism, a major public health problem in many countries, is the condition of severely stunted physical and mental growth caused by a deficiency of thyroid hormones.

10,000 years ago, a diet of wild animals provided our ancestors with all the salt they needed.  When people began farming and eating vegetables and domesticated animals, they needed to find supplemental sources of salt.

The first salt deposits may have been located by observing animals licking brine springs.  Lactating cows are vulnerable to salt deficiency.  Early symptoms are loss of appetite and weight.  In time, they start to eat dirt, rocks, and wood to try to satisfy their craving.  A lack of salt can result in debilitating diseases and even death. 

Salt is one of the world's oldest and most important commodities:

China harvested salt from Xiechi Lake in 6,000 B.C.  

The word "salary" is derived from the Latin word "salarium", the name for a soldier's pay in ancient Rome.  Their pay included a large amount of salt, a highly valued spice and medium of exchange.  This is the origin of the phrase "worth your salt."  

South of the Sahara, salt was used as currency.  

6th century Moors traded salt for gold, weight for weight.

"Salting the earth" is a ritual of spreading salt on the land of a conquered city to symbolize a curse on the land, so that no crops would grow.

Salt preserves foods by dehydrating bacteria, thus preventing spoilage.

Sea salt is obtained by the evaporation of sea water.  The Mayo Clinic says there is no difference in the health benefits of sea salt as compared to regular table salt.  Salt labeled "sea salt" in the U.S. might not have come directly from a sea, as long it meets the FDA's purity requirements.  All salt, at some point in its history, originated from a sea or springs; it just could have been millions of years ago.

Kosher salt is additive-free, coarse-grained flakes of salt designed to easily draw blood during the kosher butchering process.

Table salt makes up only about 6% of manufactured salt.  Most salt is used in industrial processes such as the manufacturing of PVC, plastics, paper pulp, aluminum, soaps, rubber, pottery, and textile dyeing.