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THE SALT INDUSTRY
History |
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History
The history of salt is as old as the Earth itself. Animals and humans have an instinct to satisfy their salt requirement by natural means. While prehistoric humans used to get their daily portion of salt from eating meat, those same prehistoric people, who later started eating vegetables, satisfied their salt needs by treating the vegetables with seawater to get a similar savoury taste. Today we more or less do the same by adding salt to our food to satisfy our needs.
Over the millennia we have learned to use salt to enable us to survive more easily. For example, we use it as a food preservative or as a disinfectant.
For a long time salt was used as a means of payment in areas where it was scarce; the word ‘salary’ literally means ‘salt ration’ and was part of a Roman legionary’s wages. “Via Salaria”, a major arterial road out of Rome, is a reminder of the importance of salt at that time.
In the Middle Ages taxes were levied on the basis of possession of salt. Salt was very expensive so anyone who could afford it was clearly wealthy enough to pay a “government contribution”.
Salt was and always will be an indispensible product; in the Middle Ages, now and in the future! |
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Salt for different uses and products |
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Salt is best known as a flavour enhancer for cooking. Salt plays an important part in our lives as the ...
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Road salt is a melting agent. It lowers the melting point of water. The salt (almost always sodium chloride NaCl, ...
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Today, salt is used in various sectors of industry including the paint industry, chloralkali industry (Chlorine, Soda and PVC), water ...
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