Salt is the only rock eaten by humans, it is made from Sodium and Chloride (NaCl). Our bodies need sodium to transport oxygen and nutrients and Chloride to both digest food and to breath. It is engrained in our history and essential for human life; without salt, we simply cannot live. Salt has been the cornerstone of our history for civilizations. Up until a century ago, salt was the most sought after commodity since the beginning of time. And it was only with the recent invention of the refrigerator that salt became common commodity. 

Every empire that ruled our history did so by controlling the production and dissemination of salt. Salt was used as a form of currency and is derived from the Latin word Sal for salt, which came the word salary. Every nation created salt differently. The Egyptians created Fleur De Sel Sea Salt, a process of collecting seawater and allowing the sun and wind to create square salt crystals that are carefully gathered from the surface of the water. The French believed the art of making the Celtic Sea Salt Fleur De Sel to be such a delicate process that originally it was a job only reserved for women. 

Salt is a preservative. It stops food from spoiling. It has allowed men to travel vast distances, to live in harsh climates, and to heal wounds by stopping the spread of infection. Animals also must have salt to live. Herbivores first searched for salt, as their diets were not rich in sodium. Carnivores also needed salt but got it from the blood of their prey. The more we sweat the more we need salt. Humans in cold climates can get their salt from meat like carnivores. It was when humans made the switch from being carnivores to omnivores that we began to trade for salt.   

Salt created the first roads on which we traveled. They we carved by the animals looking for salt. We simply choose to follow these roads because they were the source of our food. Humans also knew that following the roads created by animals was a way to find salt. 

Human bodies do not give symptoms of salt deficiency; so salt intake is completely regulated by our taste for salt. Athletes often experience a craving for more salt in their diet, but only when they are hungry. So humans have always sought salt by taste. It is allows taste to flourish.

Because salt was such an important element, humans have sought to control it. Throughout history, seasalt has been traded for, fought over and even taxed. It was used to pay workers and soldiers. It was easy to trade and represented instant liquidity. So like our present day dollars, salt was money. In China, salt was fought over and taxed so much that the people diluted it with soy and thus Soy Sauce was invented. One such war involved the control of a high mountain salt lake where dwellers skimmed the square salt crystals from the lake creating Chinese fleur de sel. Because nature made fleur de sel, it has long be regarded as the most pure salt. It was Pythagoras that said. “Salt is born of the purest of parents: the sun and the sea.”

When humans found out that by salting food it did not go bad, they created the food trade; a basic need. In fact, salted food was fed to slaves and soldiers due to the loss of salt through sweating. It also allowed humans to be mobile without the need to find food. Another interesting point about salt is food stored without salt food begins to ferment and turn to alcohol. 

Salt is a well-established bacteria neutralizer. It was with this that the early medical texts advocated salt for the treatment of wounds and other infections. It was also proven to heal aliments by bathing in it. This why seas like the dead sea have offered people for centuries ways to purify and detoxify their bodies. Today bath salts and especially Dead Sea bath salts are some of the most sought after remedies for sore and tired bodies.  

When the Chinese began mining for salt they discovered natural gas. When China realized salt was needed for human life, it was taxed. It was a way to ensure that every living resident was paying their fair share of tax. Salt tax built many empires and the control of it brought wealth and power. To control the salt trade was in essence to control the rise and fall of civilizations. Salt became the tool for emperors to control and conquer.

With over 14,000 documented uses for salt, salt is and will forever be an integral part of our history. 

Sources:
The Salt Institute
Salt: A World History