7 strange facts about salt

Read on to know about 7 very strange facts about this common kitchen item.

Salt is a very common kitchen ingredient that is used to enhance the flavor of the dish and as a preservative. Here are some very interesting facts regarding salt that you might not be aware of.

Currency. Salt was once used as money for trade purpose. In fact, the commonly used word salary is actually derived from the Latin word ‘sal’ which means salt.

Initiated habitation. Because salt is produced at some very specific areas only it gave rise to new habitation and cities such as Salzberg in Italy, which also means ‘the city of salt’. The canals present in Venice and Italy were also constructed in the 13th century because of the rise in salt import.

It has a symbolic meaning. In the holy bible, the word ‘salt’ is used to signify various things such as usefulness, permanence, durability, value, loyalty, fidelity, and purification.

It might not be healthy for all. Any kind of salt be it sea salt or table salt contains a good amount of sodium, which in certain cases may deteriorate our health. Since salt is present in most of the food preparations it is not an easy task to control or avoid its intake.

Essential for life. Even though WHO has recommended consuming less than 5g of salt every day and excessive amounts of salt consumption are associated with several health risks, salt remains the most important source of sodium and chloride in our diet. These nutrients are required to transport various other nutrients and oxygen in our body and for the nerves to transmit message properly.

Goiter. Almost all varieties of commercially available salt are iodized and the presence of iodine in iodized salt is the primary tool to fight goiter, which is a disorder of thyroid gland.

Helps in commuting. Almost 80% of the salt produced in America is used for de-icing of the roads and only 3% of the total salt production is used for food processing and agriculture purposes.