Salt shaped history because, for most of human existence, it was the most reliable way to stop food from rotting, and every body needs a little of it to live. Whoever controlled salt controlled winter stores, armies and trade. Roads were built to carry it, empires taxed it, and protests and revolutions were fought partly over it. It even hides inside everyday words such as "salad", "sauce" and "sausage". Today it costs pennies and sits by the hob. Here's how it got there.
Why salt mattered so much
Our bodies need sodium to work, and early hunters got much of theirs from meat. Once people settled down to farm and eat more grain, they needed salt from elsewhere, for themselves and for their animals. But salt's real power was in preserving. Before refrigeration, salting was one of the few ways to keep meat, fish and vegetables through a winter or a long voyage. Salt draws out water, and the microbes that spoil food struggle without it. Ham, cheese, salt cod, pickles, sauerkraut, soy sauce and kimchi all grew out of that simple fact.
Roads, mines and "white gold"
One of Rome's oldest roads was named after salt. The Via Salaria, the "salt road", ran from Rome north-east into the Apennines, and its name recalls the salt carried inland from the pans near the mouth of the Tiber.
North of the Alps, at Hallstatt in Austria, people have mined salt for thousands of years, since at least the Bronze Age. The site was so important that it gave its name to a whole Iron Age culture, and the salt has preserved remarkable traces of the miners' lives, from tools to scraps of clothing.
In West Africa, camel caravans carried slabs of salt from mines deep in the Sahara south to trading cities such as Timbuktu. You'll often read that salt was traded there for its weight in gold. That's best treated as a legend that exaggerates a real point: in places where salt was scarce, it was worth a great deal.
Did Roman soldiers get paid in salt?
This is the most famous salt story of all, and the honest answer is: probably not, at least not in the way it's told. The English word "salary" does come from the Latin salarium, which is related to sal, salt. But no ancient source says that Roman soldiers were paid in salt. Historians disagree about what salarium originally meant. It may have been an allowance for buying salt, or the word may have had some other connection to it that is now lost. The link between the words is real; the neat story of soldiers being handed bags of salt as wages is not supported by the evidence.
Salt and the state
Because everyone needs salt, rulers found it an easy thing to tax. In China, the Han dynasty made salt and iron state monopolies, and in 81 BC the policy was argued out at court in a famous debate later written up as the Discourses on Salt and Iron. Salt monopolies and taxes remained part of Chinese government for many centuries afterwards.
In France, the gabelle, the salt tax, was one of the most hated taxes of the old regime. It was abolished during the Revolution in 1790, brought back under Napoleon and not finally scrapped until 1945.
The most famous salt protest of all took place in India. British rule made it illegal for Indians to make or sell their own salt, and taxed the salt they bought. In March 1930, Mahatma Gandhi set out on foot from his ashram near Ahmedabad and walked for more than three weeks to the coast at Dandi, where on 6 April he picked up a handful of salt from the shore in defiance of the law. The Salt March drew attention around the world and became a turning point in the campaign for Indian independence.
From preserving to seasoning
Look at the words on a menu and you'll see salt everywhere. "Salad" comes from the Latin for salted, because Romans dressed their greens with salt. "Sauce" and "sausage" come from salsus, salted, too.
Some of the world's great dishes began as ways to keep food. Salt cod was the fuel of long sea voyages and the Catholic calendar, when meat was forbidden on many days. Basque and Portuguese fishermen fished and salted cod far out in the North Atlantic, and in Portugal bacalhau is still a national passion, with a dish for every day of the year, as the saying goes. Refrigeration took away the need, but not the taste. We still cure hams, brine olives and salt fish because we love the flavours salt creates.
Cooking with salt at home today
Salt is the one seasoning almost every savoury dish needs, and how you use it matters as much as how much:
- Season in layers. A little salt at each stage, on the onions, in the sauce, on the finished dish, tastes more rounded than a lot at the end.
- Salt pasta and potato water well, so the food is seasoned from within. You'll need less at the table.
- Dry-brine meat. Salting a chicken or a joint several hours ahead, uncovered in the fridge, seasons it deeply and helps the skin crisp.
- Know your salt. Flaky sea salt and coarse kosher-style salt take up more room in a spoon than fine table salt, so a teaspoon of each doesn't weigh the same. Weigh it, or taste as you go.
- Save flakes for the finish. A pinch of flaky salt on roast vegetables, grilled fish or chocolate adds crunch and little bursts of flavour.
- Use salt's friends. Lemon, vinegar, herbs, garlic and spices make food taste brighter, so you can often use less salt without noticing.
If you'd like to cook with salt's history, The Healthy Kitchen includes a Portuguese Salt Cod and Chickpea Stew, a Cantonese Salt & Pepper Tofu with Chilli and Scallion, a Chickpea Socca with Rosemary and Sea Salt, and, for the finishing-salt lesson, a Dark Chocolate and Clementine Bark with Sea Salt. For more ideas, search salt in the recipe finder.
Tip: soaking salt cod. Rinse dried salt cod, then soak it in the fridge in plenty of cold water for 24–48 hours, changing the water three or four times a day. Taste a flake before cooking: it should be pleasantly seasoned, not harsh.
A word on health
Most of us eat more salt than we need. The World Health Organization recommends that adults have less than 5 g of salt a day, about a teaspoon, and UK guidance sets a maximum of 6 g. Much of it comes from bread, processed meats, cheese, sauces and ready meals rather than the salt cellar. Eating a lot of salt is linked to raised blood pressure, so cooking from scratch and seasoning with herbs, spices and acidity is an easy way to stay in control. If you have a medical condition, follow your doctor's advice. For a well-stocked, lower-salt store cupboard, see our healthy pantry checklist.
Questions people ask
Does the word salary come from salt?
Yes, "salary" comes from the Latin salarium, which is related to sal, salt. But the popular story that Roman soldiers were paid in salt isn't supported by ancient sources, and historians still debate what the word originally referred to.
Why was salt so valuable in the past?
People and animals need it to live, and before refrigeration it was one of the main ways to preserve food. It was also hard to get in many places, so it was heavily traded and taxed.
Is sea salt healthier than table salt?
Not in any meaningful way. Both are mostly sodium chloride, and weight for weight they contain about the same sodium. Sea salt has a different texture and trace minerals, but not enough to change its effect on your health.
What was Gandhi's Salt March?
In 1930, Gandhi walked for more than three weeks to the coast at Dandi to make salt from the sea, breaking a British law that taxed salt and banned Indians from producing it. It became one of the defining protests of the Indian independence movement.