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Commodity: Salt

Salt

Years: 7821BCE - 2115

Salt, also known as table salt, or rock salt, is one of the oldest, most ubiquitous food seasonings.

Salting is an important method of food preservation.

A crystalline mineral that is composed primarily of sodium chloride (NaCl), salt for human consumption is produced in different forms: unrefined salt (such as sea salt), refined salt (table salt), and iodized salt.

It is a crystalline solid, white, pale pink or light gray in color, normally obtained from sea water or rock deposits.

Edible rock salts may be slightly grayish in color because of mineral content.

Salt's ability to preserve food is a foundation of civilization.

It eliminates the dependence on the seasonal availability of food and it allows travel over long distances.

It is also a desirable food seasoning.

However, salt has until comparatively recently been difficult to obtain, and so it has traditionally been a highly valued trade item, which follow the pull of economics along salt roads, some of which are been established in the Bronze age.

Until the twentieth century, salt is one of the prime movers of national economies and wars.

Today salt is almost universally accessible, relatively cheap and often iodized.

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