9781422285626

INTRODUCTION I t comes in shakers and bowls, in licks and packets. Sprinkle it on popcorn, and everyone wants a handful. Shake it on steamy, buttered corn, and you can have a picnic. Tiny and white, crystalline and abundant—most everything tastes better with a shake or two of salt. Yet there’s more to the tasty spice than you might think. Salt preserves things, for example. Long before there were refrigerators, people poured salt on fish, meat, pork, and other foods to keep them fresh. The ancient Egyptians used salt to stop mummies from rotting. Salt has also stoked the fires of economies. The

ancient Romans paid their soldiers in salt. The earliest trade routes involved salt. British troops stole salt from George Washington and his troops during the

Salt comes in a wide variety of consistencies and colors. (Ralf Roletschek/Wikimedia)

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