5 Facts About Salt

Luckily, salt is one of the few raw materials on our planet that will always be available in sufficient quantities in the future. The salt deposited in the underground alone will last for a very long time. If you consider that the amount of salt dissolved in the oceans is many times greater than the amount of rock salt and brine, you can make the argument that people will never run out of salt.

Our German term "Salz" (salt) developed from the Latin word "Salarium". This in turn comes from "Salus", the name for the Roman deity of wisdom, who was responsible for general growth and prosperity. Roman officials and soldiers were given a ration of salt, called "salarium", for their journeys. The connection to the term "salary", which is used today for wages or salaries, is obvious - even though salt has long since ceased to be a form of remuneration.

Everyone knows it from their own experience: tears taste salty. In fact, without salt there would be no tears at all. But why? Tear fluid is produced in the lacrimal glands, which are located above the eye. In order to produce fluid, they need water from the surrounding tissue, and salt is needed to draw the water out of the tissue - which is why the lacrimal gland secretes salt. Not pure table salt, but a mixture of various electrolytes, including potassium.

There are three different types of table salt: evaporated salt (extracted from brine), rock salt (mined) and sea salt (extracted from seawater). All three always have the same composition of sodium and chlorine.

Salt does not only play an important role in nutrition, but also in the industry and households. Be it the steel industry, in dye works, the production of soap and glass or as regenerating salt for the dishwasher - without salt, our lives would be different in many respects. Not to mention the use of salt as a de-icing agent, which ensures safety our roads in wintertime.