Salting (Food)

Salting preserves food with dry edible salt, one of the oldest food preservation methods and closely related to pickling, brining and curing. It works because most bacteria, fungi and other potentially pathogenic organisms cannot survive salt's highly hypertonic environment, which draws water out of their cells by osmosis until they die or become inactive. Salted fish, particularly dried and salted cod and salted herring, and salt-cured meats such as bacon are historically significant examples, alongside vegetables such as runner beans and cabbage; salting remained the common way to preserve meat until the mid-twentieth century, when refrigeration displaced much of its use, though salt-preserved foods remain dietary staples in North Africa, Scandinavia, coastal Russia and the Arctic.