Salt, History & Uses : The history of salt

Lives have been lost, and wars have been raged over the value of salt but still the need for salt continues and the true value of salt evolves. Far back in history, salt was thought to be a very limited resource because it was in a very limited supply at that time.

In fact, the Chinese have been mining salt since at least 3000 B.C. in the Sichuan Province. Many people died near the brine wells because of the gases that came from the wells. After the gases from the wells were harnessed, the Chinese learned to cook over these brine wells with heat. 

As far back as the 20th century B.C. salt was taxed in China. The Roman Republic and Empire controlled the salt price, which is how they raised money for wars and for feeding their poor.

But the taxation of salt continued as the British in India imposed laws against the Indians to mine or to gather their own salt. This law was rebelled against in 1930 when the Indians went to the sea to scoop salt and defy the British. 

The love of salt is also seen throughout history where the Egyptians started the use of embalming with salt to preserve their dead. This also led to the preservation and the curing of meats and the development of how salt was mined. The use of salt is seen earlier in history as the British discovered salt near Liverpool and also in the history of food in Germany where they have a great fondness for pickled foods. You need salt to pickle any type of foods, which the Germans used in many recipes! 

During the 17th century France was taxing salt, and it is thought that this taxation played a very big part in the French Revolution. There was a stipulation set in this tax stating every person 8 years or older buy a set amount of salt, no matter if it was needed or not, and usually it was not. This tax was one of the main sources of income for the country. Over the years thousands died or were imprisoned until the tax law was abolished in 1946.
 
Salt gave humans our ability to use more than just the seasonal foods in our meals. Salt gave us our ability to preserve and carry foods on travels. As our discovering and our use of salt evolved, the product liquid bleach was created and Parmesan cheese was born using salt baths to attain its unique tastes.  So as you see, the value of salt has a long and interesting history but it doesn’t stop there as we continue to use salt in a wide variety of uses still today. Let’s discover some of the uses of salt in the following pages!