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7 facts you may not know about salt

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7 facts you may not know about salt

We all know that too much salt is bad for our health and that many of us still do eat way too much of the stuff, but did you know that you couldn’t live without salt and that it is the world’s oldest food flavouring?

Listed below are seven interesting facts you may not know about table salt.

1. The word “salary” is derived from the need for salt: Salt was so valuable in the ancient world that the very word for our monthly pay check is a reference to our need to buy salt. The word “salary” is derived from the Latin word “salārium”, which was the payment that Roman soldiers received so that they had money to buy salt.

2. More salt is spread on the roads than we use in our food: Most of the salt that is extracted from sea water or mined from the ground is used for industrial purposes and never gets anywhere near food. In fact, in the US, only 6% of all salt is used in food and 15% of all salt production is spread on the roads during winter to keep them clear of ice.

3. Why spilling salt is thought to be unlucky: The superstition of believing that spilling salt will bring bad luck is thought to have originated from the painting “The Last Supper” by Leonardo da Vinci. In the famous painting, Judas Iscariot, the man who betrayed Jesus and who then hung himself, can be seen knocking over what appears to be a container of salt. Throwing salt to ward off bad luck originated from the idea that you are throwing salt into the eye of the devil.

Read also: 5 tips to eliminate underarm odour

4. Salt can kill you: If you were to consume a gram of salt for every kilogram of your body weight, the salt would kill you. In ancient China, eating a pound of salt was the preferred method of suicide amongst the nobility. Salt was so expensive in China in those days, it was only the nobility who could afford to buy enough salt to kill themselves with it.

5. Good quality sea salt should be wet: Unlike refined salt, which has had a lot of what is good for you taken out of it, the best quality sea salt will contain many of the minerals that you need for body to function healthily. The very best sea salt will be slightly damp and that dampness should be from the sea water that the salt was extracted from.

6. Salty potato chips were invented by an angry cook: In 1853, a customer kept sending his fried potatoes back, complaining that they were too soggy. The exasperated cook tried to get his revenge by slicing the potatoes as thinly as he could, deep frying until they turned brown and crispy, and smothering them with salt. The customer loved the crispy deep fried potatoes so much, he told all his friends, and the modern salty potato chip was born.

7. There is hotel in Bolivia made entirely out of salt: There is a hotel in Bolivia that has taken the idea of using local resources to a new extreme. The Palacio de Sal resort, which is built on the edge of a salt plain, was built entirely out of compressed blocks of salt. They didn’t stop there, though; the chairs, tables, beds, and even the swimming pool are also all made of locally sourced salt.

 

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