Salt

Salt

 

While actually being a chemical term for a neutral compound composed of ions produced through neutralizations, this text will be about the common table salt, composed of the elements known as Sodium and Chloride. Up to date, scientists has not been able to find a single living organism who depends on a regular intake of salt to survive, including humans, an excessive consumption of salt, however, has been proven to increase the risk of health problems, such as high blood pressure.

 

Humans have used refrigeration and canning to preserve food for about the last two hundred years, the many millenia before that, salt has always been the best known preservatives known to man, especially when it comes to preserving meat salt is very efficient if refrigeration cant be accessed. Harvesting of salt can be dated back as far as to 6000 BC to the Xiechi Lake in the Shanxi province of China, contesting this saltwork is the one found at the Poinana Slatinei archaeological site of Romania, believed to date back as far as 6050 BC.

 

Findings of salt in ancient Egyptian tombs can be dated back as far as 3000 BC, where salt is believed to have been included among the funereal offerings. No less than 41 verses in the King James Bible mention salt, in the Sermon of the Mount, Jesus refers to his followers as “salt of the earth”.

 

In Hinduism, salt is used in different religious ceremonies, such as housewarmings and weddings, in Judaism, it is custom to dip the Sabbath bread in salt to preserve the covenant between the jewish people and God. Salt is also used to remove snow and ice from roads in colder areas of the world, since mixing salt with water lowers the temperature at which the ice melts.