Who first came up with the idea of ​​adding “salt” to food?

This substance, which we can reach quite easily nowadays, is actually in itself unpredictable. a long and striking past owner. This indispensable mineral, which was very difficult to produce and distribute in the first days of its discovery, has passed through many phases since then.

So where and when did salt appear, which has been of great importance to humans for centuries? How did it get into our meals?

In addition to its function of flavoring the food, salt is one of the most basic substances necessary for human life.

Sodium ions in salt help maintain fluid in blood cells, absorb nutrients in the small intestine, and many essential functions in the body contributes greatly to its implementation.

For this substance that our bodies cannot produce, people were in a constant search to meet their salt needs. The first people met this need from meat in the first place, and after switching to agriculture, they wanted to reach more salt. tracked animals to salt puddles.

The discovery of salt dates back to China, about 8,000 years ago.

back then From a lake in China’s Shanxi province It is believed that the Chinese, who believe that salt is obtained, waged various wars for the sake of this substance in order to control this lake and to continue the salt supply. Salt was then collected from lakes where the water evaporated and the layers of salt were exposed, especially during the dry seasons.

For ancient people, this mineral was not indispensable because every people in the period unique salt sources there was. But until the use of salt as a commercial material, this substance was limited to certain regions.

Realizing the protective properties of salt, the Egyptians began to collect this substance from the Nile marsh.

These people, who discovered that the sodium in the salt attracts the moisture that causes bacteria in the food and dries the food, made it possible to store meat and fish for a long time in this way. to be canned started.

People, who spend about 8% of their monthly expenditure on buying salt, tried to include this substance in their meals and also overuse of salt for the salting process These people were severely punished.

In addition, with the discovery of the preservative property of salt, the mummies began to be salted and the mummies left in the Nile River were taxed under the name of “salted meat”.

Salt religious offerings Although there are sources that the Egyptians, who also used it for meat and fish, were the first to store meat and fish by salting; The earliest Chinese documents regarding these foods being stored in salt date back to 2000 BC.

A Chinese treatise dating back to 2700 BC mentions 40 different types of salt, and this source refers to the making of salt in Egyptian art.

Also in Ancient Greece slaves are exchanged for saltRoman soldiers often got their salaries with salt, and that’s where the phrase “not worth the salt” came from.

Also, the meaning of the English word “salary” (salary) was based on this context, and “salad” (salad) also emerged from the English word “salt”, and the origin of this word is From the Romans salting leafy greens and vegetables had come.

With the start of the salt trade, many small cities started to develop and some countries used salt as a means of payment in the past.

For this precious substance in the Middle Ages and beyond large sums were paid And at this point, what made the salt valuable was the arduousness of its transportation and its involvement in trade. In addition, Romans, Venetians, French, Chinese and many other governments brought salt tax to earn money for wars.

Salt was so precious during the period that salt was sent to Africa by caravans and in return. gold, diamonds and jewels would be taken.

Salt was used as a remedy for many diseases by the Egyptians, Romans, Greeks, Arabs, the Middle Ages and the Renaissance when medicine was not developed enough.

It is known that salt, which was sent from Cappadocia to Rome with pottery in the 17th century AD, is very good for the skin and gives luminosity. Hippocrates, Galen and AvicennaHe also stated that the use of this substance could be a cure for troubles.

While salt was used in Ancient Egypt to control bleeding, to speed up labor and to make eye drops; In Rome, this mineral skin diseases, earaches, fungi and edema used to improve.

Nowadays, salt is a flavor that we can easily reach whenever we desire.

The production of salt has become quite common today compared to the past times, and It is no longer a sought-after item, but always at hand. started to happen. Table salt, made up of the elements sodium and chlorine, has become a sought-after flavor in our meals over time, and this use is likely to remain indispensable forever.