The one mineral, rather than plant or animal product, among this atlas's founding ingredients: sodium chloride, gathered by evaporating seawater or brine or by mining rock deposits, used across every cuisine on earth both to season and, before refrigeration, to preserve meat, fish and vegetables through curing and fermentation. Its production and control shaped taxation and trade routes across many historical states, but no single earliest-use date is honestly citable from the references this atlas draws on: salt gathering has no domestication event to date, unlike a cultivated crop, and the archaeological record of early salt working is scattered across many independent sites rather than one origin. Two documented trade networks show that control concretely. Rome's Via Salaria, the Salt Road, carried salt inland from pans near the mouth of the Tiber across the Apennines, a route already in use before Rome existed as a city; the English word salary does descend from the Latin salarium, but the popular story that Roman soldiers were literally paid in salt is a documented myth with no ancient source behind it, traced by classicists to a speculative entry in an eighteenth century Latin dictionary rather than to any Roman testimony. In West Africa, salt from Saharan mines such as Taghaza and Idjil moved south by camel caravan along trans-Saharan routes controlled chiefly by Berber traders, exchanged in some accounts pound for pound for gold at trading cities including Timbuktu and Djenne, underwriting the wealth of the Ghana, Mali and Songhai empires in turn across roughly a thousand years.
Facts
Partially Attested
Origin RegionMultiple independent regions, including present-day Romania and China 2 No single origin region is attested; the earliest processing evidence is scattered across separate sites. Earliest Documented Use, From (Year)Wikipedia "Salt" History: Solnitsata in Bulgaria, thought to be the first city in Europe, was a salt mine providing the Balkans with salt since 5400 BC. Connections
Expresses Tradition
Source On Food and Cooking: The Science and Lore of the KitchenHarold McGee
Used By
Source Ahle Wurst (Wikipedia)
Source Åland pancake (Wikipedia)
Source Beyran Soup (Wikipedia)
Source Bolo do caco (Wikipedia)
Source Bombay potato (Wikipedia)
Source Brining (Wikipedia)
Source Cağ kebabı (Wikipedia)
Source Curing, food preservation (Wikipedia)
Source Dal bhat (Wikipedia)
Source Galician bread (Wikipedia)
Source İnegöl meatballs (Wikipedia)
Source Joshpara, Wikipedia
Source Kanika (food) (source article)
Kimchi, Dishes Source The Oxford Companion to FoodAlan Davidson
Source Konowata (Wikipedia)
Source Menemen (food) (Wikipedia)
Source Wikipedia, Moretum
Source Murukku (Wikipedia)
Source Obwarzanek krakowski (Wikipedia)
Source Oliebol (Wikipedia)
Source Papa a la huancaína (Wikipedia)
Source The Oxford Companion to FoodAlan Davidson
Source Pyeonyuk (Wikipedia)
Source Salt bread (Wikipedia)
Source Sate taichan (Wikipedia)
Source Wikipedia, Suaasat
Source Tigelada (source article)
In the Other Atlases
Originated In
Also in Geography Atlas: where this subject originated.
Source The Oxford Companion to FoodAlan Davidsontier 1
Also in Geography Atlas: where this subject originated.
Source The Oxford Companion to FoodAlan Davidsontier 1
Sources
1. Wikidata: Salt
2. Salt (Wikipedia)
Lead sectionQuote, Lead section
Some of the earliest evidence of salt processing dates to around 6000 BC, when people living in the area of present-day Romania boiled spring water to extract salts; a salt works in China dates to approximately the same period.
View the Source The Oxford Companion to Food
Alan Davidson, Oxford University Press, 2014entry: Salt
The great and inexhaustible source of salt is the sea (or other naturally occurring briny waters)
- Used By: Peking Duck
- Used By: Kimchi
The Salt Trade of Ancient West Africa (World History Encyclopedia)
Mark Cartwright, World History EncyclopediaLead sectionQuote, Lead section
Salt from the Sahara desert was one of the major trade goods of ancient West Africa where very little naturally occurring deposits of the mineral could be found.
View the Source On Food and Cooking: The Science and Lore of the Kitchen
Harold McGee, Scribner, 2004Expresses Tradition: Salt Curing, Smoking and Drying, ch. on meat, curing and smoking
Curing, food preservation (Wikipedia)
WikipediaUsed By: Curing, Lead sectionQuote, Used By: Curing, Lead section
by the addition of salt, with the aim of drawing moisture out of the food by the process of osmosis
View the Source Brining (Wikipedia)
WikipediaUsed By: Brining, Lead sectionQuote, Used By: Brining, Lead section
Brining is treating food with brine or coarse salt which preserves and seasons the food while enhancing tenderness.
View the Source Pita (Wikipedia)
WikipediaUsed By: Pita, Infobox main_ingredient field: Wheat flour, water, yeast, saltView the Source Ajvar (Wikipedia)
WikipediaUsed By: Ajvar, Infobox main_ingredient field: Capsicum (bell peppers), oil, saltView the Source Joshpara, Wikipedia
Used By: Joshpara, Infobox main_ingredient field: Dough (flour, eggs, water, salt), ground meat, onions, herbs, salt, black pepperView the Source Lahpet, Wikipedia
Used By: Lahpet, Infobox main_ingredient field: Fermented tea leaves, oil, salt, nutsView the Source Wikipedia, Kesme
Used By: Kesme, Infobox main_ingredient field: Flour, water, salt, an eggView the Source Wikipedia, Moretum
Used By: Moretum, Infobox main_ingredient field: Herbs, fresh cheese, salt, oil, vinegarView the Source Beyran Soup (Wikipedia)
Used By: Beyran Soup, Infobox main_ingredient field: Minced meat, onion, egg, black pepper, salt, lamb meat, butterView the Source Papa a la huancaína (Wikipedia)
Used By: Papa a la Huancaína, Infobox main_ingredient field: Yellow potatoes, Huancaína sauce (queso fresco, vegetable oil, ají amarillo, evaporated milk, salt)View the Source Crêpe (Wikipedia)
Used By: Crêpe, Infobox main_ingredient field: Wheat flour, milk, eggs, butter, sugar and/or saltView the Source Salt bread (Wikipedia)
Used By: Salt bread, Infobox main_ingredient field: dough, butter, saltView the Source Obwarzanek krakowski (Wikipedia)
Used By: Obwarzanek krakowski, Infobox main_ingredient field: Wheat flour, fat (usually lard), yeast, sugar, saltView the Source Murukku (Wikipedia)
Used By: Murukku, Infobox main_ingredient field: Rice flour, urad dal flour (black gram), salt, vegetable oilView the Source Orama (dish) (Wikipedia)
Used By: Orama, Infobox main_ingredient field: Dough: flour, water, salt; Filling: meat, potatoes, animal fat, sometimes pumpkinView the Source Shukto - Wikipedia
Menemen (food) (Wikipedia)
Wikipedia, Suaasat
Dal bhat (Wikipedia)
Oliebol (Wikipedia)
Cağ kebabı (Wikipedia)
Used By: Cağ kebabı, infobox main_ingredient fieldQuote, Used By: Cağ kebabı, infobox main_ingredient field
Marinated slices of lamb, tail fat, onion, sweet basil, black pepper and salt.
View the Source Bombay potato (Wikipedia)
Used By: Bombay potato, infobox main_ingredient fieldQuote, Used By: Bombay potato, infobox main_ingredient field
Potato, cumin, curry, garlic, garam masala, turmeric, mustard seeds, chili powder, salt and pepper
View the Source Bolo do caco (Wikipedia)
Used By: Bolo do caco, infobox main_ingredient fieldQuote, Used By: Bolo do caco, infobox main_ingredient field
Salt, Sweet Potato, Sugar, Flour, Yeast
View the Source Sate taichan (Wikipedia)
Used By: Sate taichan, Lead, seasoningQuote, Used By: Sate taichan, Lead, seasoning
while the chicken meat used with this satay is generally plain white in colour and only seasoned with salt, key lime, and chili.
View the Source Neccio (Wikipedia)
Used By: Neccio, PreparationQuote, Used By: Neccio, Preparation
The dough is made with chestnut flour, water, and a little salt.
View the Source Cenil (Wikipedia)
Used By: Cenil, Ingredients [uses-ingredient 2]Quote, Used By: Cenil, Ingredients [uses-ingredient 2]
Salt
View the Source Tigelada (source article)
Used By: Tigelada, DescriptionQuote, Used By: Tigelada, Description
Tigeladas are made with eggs, milk, unleavened flour, sugar, lemon and salt.
View the Source Pyeonyuk (Wikipedia)
Used By: Pyeonyuk, Preparation and servingQuote, Used By: Pyeonyuk, Preparation and serving
The broth for cooking the meat is flavored with salt and other seasonings
View the Source İnegöl meatballs (Wikipedia)
Used By: İnegöl meatballs, PreparationQuote, Used By: İnegöl meatballs, Preparation
İnegöl meatballs can consist of veal, lamb, salt, sodium-bicarbonate and onion mixture in specific proportions.
View the Source Åland pancake (Wikipedia)
Used By: Åland pancake, IngredientsQuote, Used By: Åland pancake, Ingredients
The standard ingredients include semolina, eggs, cardamom, sugar, and salt.
View the Source Ahle Wurst (Wikipedia)
Used By: Ahle Wurst, Lead paragraph [uses-ingredient 2]Quote, Used By: Ahle Wurst, Lead paragraph [uses-ingredient 2]
Seasoned only with salt and pepper
View the Source Kanika (food) (source article)
Used By: Kanika (food), Lead paragraphs [uses-ingredient]Quote, Used By: Kanika (food), Lead paragraphs [uses-ingredient]
The key ingredients used to make it are fragrant rice, ghee, raisins, cashews, black cardamom, green cardamom, cinnamon, cloves, mace, bay leaf, nutmeg powder, sugar, salt and turmeric.
View the Source Konowata (Wikipedia)
Used By: Konowata, Method of manufactureQuote, Used By: Konowata, Method of manufacture
put into a container and mixed with salt
View the Source Puls (food) (Wikipedia)
Used By: Puls, Infobox: main_ingredientQuote, Used By: Puls, Infobox: main_ingredient
Farro, water, salt
View the Source Galician bread (Wikipedia)
Used By: Galician Bread, Lead paragraphQuote, Used By: Galician Bread, Lead paragraph
It contains soft wheat flour native to Galicia, called "trigo do país" (country wheat), mixed with foreign wheat flour, traditionally from Castille (Triticum aestivum), in addition to water, sourdough, yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae) and salt.
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