If you're a home cook, there's no doubt you've paid attention to salt—but usually it's about how much is the right amount.
We've all certainly oversalted a pot of something and scrambled to save it, or perhaps given up and thrown it out. But you'll find that understanding salt isn't just about how much–there are a wide variety of salts available for home cooks to use, some culinary and some not.
A Brief History of Salt
The use of salt dates at least back to 2,000 BCE, when harvesting salt was discovered and humans developed a taste for it. It's hard to imagine cooking without salt, no?
It's theorized that even before the Agricultural Revolution, humans noticed their herd animals' tendencies to lick salt-containing rocks, a behavior which is well-documented across many species and remains observable today.
According to this reasoning, humans also investigated these naturally-occurring salts, found them to taste delicious, and integrated the mineral into their diets.
While humans today have more concern about an excess of sodium, ancient humans had very few sources for salt. Imagine living a salt-free life, then suddenly tasting it in a rock: they'd likely find it just as magical & tasty as their herd animals did!
Fortunately, we don't need to find salt by hunting down the right boulder. We can just purchase it at any grocery store. But with so many kinds available, it's essential to understand the differences between the most commonly-available salts.
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