The story of salt is woven through the fabric of human history in much the same way it brings together the flavours of a magnificent dish, enigmatically. At times powerfully, at times so subtly it can hardly be detected, but always with undeniable panache.

“Salt is the only rock directly consumed by man. It corrodes but preserves, desiccates but is wrested from the water. It has fascinated man for thousands of years not only as a substance he prized and was willing to labour to obtain, but also as a generator of poetic and of mythic meaning. The contradictions it embodies only intensify its power and its links with experience of the sacred.” Margaret Visser

Salt is comparable to mineral water in many ways, including its importance to life and also its flavour. Water and salt are relatively simple compounds, H2O and NaCl respectively. If water is totally denatured of all other minerals beside H2O it has no flavour whatsoever. It’s the same for salt. It’s the mineral and trace element components of both salt and water that impart the unique characteristics of each. If you can maintain these components then you get a product that is unique to the region from which it is made. That’s why Olsson’s salt is unique; because it references the beautiful oceans from which it is made. And you can taste it in the salt.

THE BASICS

However, salt was difficult to obtain, and so it was a highly valued trade item to the point of being considered a form of currency by certain peoples.

Salt, sodium chloride, is a chemical compound that has the formula NaCl and is typically 40% sodium and 60% chloride. Since the body cannot manufacture sodium or chloride, they are “essential” nutrients.

Solar salt is produced by the action of sun and wind on seawater in large ponds. This process is called SOLAR EVAPORATION and this type of salt is called Solar Sea Salt. Salt crystals start to form when the brine concentration reaches 25.8% Sodium Chloride (NaCl). At this point the brine is moved to what is called a “crystallizer pond” where the salt will begin to drop out of the water, forming a layer of salt on the crystallizer pond.

Salt is the world’s oldest known condiment and many of the world’s most distinguished chefs recognize the taste advantage of sea salt over other salts. Sodium, most readily found in salt, regulates fluid balance and is absolutely necessary for movement, nerve impulses, digestion and healing of wounds. The body doesn’t produce sodium, so salt is essential not only to life but to good health.

Most people probably think of salt as simply that white granular food seasoning found in a salt shaker on virtually every dining table. It is that but it is far more. It is an essential element in the diet of not only humans but of animals, and even of many plants. It is one of the most effective and most widely used of all food preservatives. Its industrial and other uses are almost without number. In fact, salt is involved in almost all aspects of human activity.

The fact is that throughout history has been such an important element of life that it has been the subject of much folklore. It served as money at various times and places, and it has been the cause of bitter warfare.

A BRIEF HISTORY

Salt, NaCl, is a chemical compound made of sodium and chloride and is essential to life on this planet. As far back as 6050 BC, salt has been an integral part of human history, as it has been interwoven into countless civilizations. As a result many words in all languages originate from the word salt (salary, salad, sauce, sausage) because of its importance to human life. Salt's ability to preserve food was a foundation of civilization. It helped to eliminate the dependence on the seasonal availability of food and it allowed travel over long distances.

However, salt was difficult to obtain, and so it was a highly valued trade item to the point of being considered a form of currency by certain peoples.

Salt was of high value to the Hebrews, Greeks, the Chinese, Hittites and other peoples of antiquity. Aside from being a contributing factor in the development of civilization, salt was also used in the military practice of salting the earth by various peoples, beginning with the Assyrians.

In the early years of the Roman Republic , with the growth of the city of Rome , roads were built to make transportation of salt to the capital city easier. An example was the Via Salaria (originally a Sabine trail), leading from Rome to the Adriatic Sea . The Adriatic, having a higher salinity due to its shallow depth, had more productive solar ponds compared with those of the Tyrrhenian Sea , much closer to Rome. It is commonly believed that Roman soldiers were at certain times paid with salt. (They say the soldiers who did their job well were "worth their salt."). The word 'salary' derives from the Latin word salārium, possibly referring to money given to soldiers so they could buy salt.

During the late Roman Empire and throughout the Middle Ages salt was a precious commodity carried along the salt roads into the heartland of the Germanic tribes. Caravans consisting of as many as forty thousand camels traversed four hundred miles of the Sahara bearing salt to inland markets in the Sahel, sometimes trading salt for slaves: Timbuktu was a huge salt and slave market.

SUSTAINIBILITY

Sea Salt harvesting is probably the most sustainable type of farming (or mining according to the Australian Government) on the planet. Nothing is added in the making of the sea salt, nothing is taken away except water through natural evaporation. Salt has been and is still being harvested from many places on the earth since before written history and shows no indication of slowing down.

SALINITY

Parts of Australia have do salinity problems but is not an issue with the Olsson’s Salt Pans as they have salt bush all around their salt pans and ponds. Salt bush has a VERY deep tap root that draws the water table down with it which stops the salt water table from reaching the surface. Where the salt water table has reached the surface, in many cases, you will find that the salt-bush has been cleared.

SALT AND FLAVOUR

Salt has a greater impact on flavour than anything else, any other ingredient. ... Salt has a multidimensional relationship with flavour: It has its own taste, and it both balances and enhances the flavour of other ingredients. Learn to use it well, and food will taste good. Imagine taking a bite of a rich espresso brownie sprinkled with sea salt flakes The salt minimizes the espresso’s bitterness, intensifies the flavour of the chocolate and offers a savory contrast to the sugar’s sweetness.

Does this mean you should simply use more salt? No. It means use salt better. Add it in the right amount, at the right time, in the right form. A smaller amount of salt applied while cooking will often do more to improve flavour than a larger amount added at the table.

SALT AS A PRESERVATIVE

Salt has been used as a preservative for many thousands of years, to protect food against bacteria, mold, and spoiling.

Salt preserves food in the following ways:

1. Salt dries food. Salt draws water out of food and dehydrates it via the process of osmosis. Essentially, water moves across a cell membrane to try to equalize the salinity or concentration of salt on both sides of the membrane. If you add enough salt, too much water will be removed from a cell for it to stay alive or reproduce. Salt is used to preserve protein (beef, pork, fish, etc) by keeping it dry, and it prevents butter from spoiling by drawing water out, leaving just the fat.
2. Salt kills microbes. High salt is toxic to most microbes because of the effect of osmolarity, or water pressure. In very high salt solutions, many microbes will rupture due to the difference in pressure between the outside and inside of the organism. High salt can also be toxic to internal processes of microbes, affecting DNA and enzymes. (NB: Solutions high in sugar also have the same effects on microbes, which is why it is used as a preservative of foods such as jams and jellies.)

MORE INFORMATION ABOUT HOW SALT PRESERVES FOOD

1. Salt shifts the growth conditions to favour Gram-positive instead of Gram-negative bacteria. Most human pathogens are Gram-negative. These include Salmonella, E. coli and Clostridia. There are only a few Gram-positive pathogens, such as Listeria and Staphylococcus.
2. Salt removes available water from the food by changing the osmotic pressure. This makes it harder for bacteria to obtain water to grow. The availability of water in food is called "water activity", and every species of bacteria has a minimum water activity below which it won't grow. Most pathogens will not grow below a water activity of 0.92 (pure water is 1.0).
3. Salt in itself eventually becomes poisonous to the microbes by creating an electrolyte imbalance within the cell.
4. A brine (salt + water) of 3.5% will normally prevent serious pathogens (e.g., Clostridium botulinum) from growing. Brines of more than 10% will normally prevent all pathogenic bacteria from growing.