ENTRY 14- SALT

Language 4 Entry Nª 14


SALT

Salt is a well known and a very common mineral. It is white, and essential for cooking and giving a good taste to food. Many people would think that salt is a topic of less importance to talk about. But if we stop for a moment to think and analyse and also investigate about its origin, the important part it played in history and its effects on our health, we will surely change our opinion about salt.

Salt is insignificant in appearance but our life depends on salt as much as on water or oxygen. It was used as money in Tibet, Ethiopia and Rome. It was and it is commercialised in the Arabian dessert in conical shaped bars and it is expensive there. Selling salt in the dessert was a way of earning some money for certain members of a tribe and they used their camels for the transportation. But as many vehicles were introduced, delivering salt has turned quicker and cheaper. People carrying the salt on their camels almost lost their jobs.

Egyptians used to preserve their mummies in a solution of salt. So the combination of salt and the dry weather made it possible for many mummies to survive and be in a perfect state telling more about the ancient history of this mysterious and attractive civilization.

When there were no fridges many years ago, people used to preserve fish and meat covered with salt. Moreover the tasty bacon is prepared with a nice piece of pork leg with its skin and fat and some meat and covered with a thick layer of salt for many days, then the salt is taken away and more salt has to be added. So after some time bacon is ready to be eaten. That is the way my grandfather and father used to prepare it.

When Julius Caesar conquered Great Britain, he was interested not only in the country itself but also in the deposits of salt there. Salt was so important that Caesar used to pay his soldiers in salt, in consequence the word “salary” or “salarium”, comes from the word “salt”.

Salt, it is said has its magical properties. There is a belief that witches are afraid of salt. So if a person wanted to defeat a witch, he had to spread salt forming a kind of circle with it, and he had to put the affected person in the middle of the ring, when the witch or wizard saw it he or she immediately flied away. It was also used in rituals in the Greek, Roman, Hebrew and Christian civilization.

There exists a superstition in some countries: it says that if you spill salt accidentally, it is considered of bad luck, and in order to counteract it you have to throw a pinch of salt over your shoulder.

There are many deposits of salt, the biggest is in Bolivia. There is one in Tucuman in Departamento Burruyacu. Salt is also present in the sea water and on certain rocks. There are two methods for the extraction of salt: by evaporation and by boiling it. People working in the salt fields say it is an unhealthy job because the salt combined with the brilliant sunlight affects their eyes, and may of them complain about affections in their kidneys.

As everything in life is not perfect, the overuse of salt in foods may affect our heart and kidneys; and it is a great enemy of high-blood pressure. That is why people suffering from high-blood pressure have to use salt from celery, light salt and salt from algae.

Life and food without salt are tasteless. We should give it the importance it deserves and use it rationally, as everything on earth.

Sayings related to salt:

“To rub salt in a wound” ; means to do or say something that makes someone who already feels bad, feel worse.

“To take something with a pinch of salt “ : means to doubt the truth or value of something, for example : to take and advise or a criticism with a pinch of salt.