Salted_ A Manifesto on the World's Most Essential Mineral, With Recipes - Mark Bitterman [26]
Salt in its unrefined form has the most yin of any substance that is used as food. This means it is grounding, and affects the descending, inward activities of the body and mind. Salt directs the energy of the body inward, and is thus more appropriate to be eaten in the cooler months, in order to concentrate the warmth of the body in the yin, or interior and lower body areas. It is believed to contribute to the secretions of hydrochloric acid in the stomach, strengthening digestion and supporting optimal absorption of proteins and of vitamin B12 and other essential vitamins and minerals (all corroborated in the annals of Western medicine, as well). In Chinese medicine, salt used in moderation is believed to support mental clarity as it strengthens the heart and the mind.
Holding with the balance of yin and yang, overconsumption of salt is regarded as similarly harmful. Just as appropriate salt usage enhances calcium absorption and nutrient utilization in general, excess salt consumption has a demineralizing effect on the body, leaching calcium from the bones. It can also injure the kidneys or promote fluid retention.
One of the fundamental properties of salt is its power to alkalize the blood, a useful quality considering many disease processes (not to mention the use of pharmaceutical drugs, intoxicants, and highly processed foods) promote an acidic blood condition. Thus salt can in some cases be used therapeutically in various Eastern medical traditions to neutralize and detoxify blood that is overly acidic.
According to Chinese medicine theory, salt stimulates the kidneys. This promotes fluid metabolism and has a moistening effect that can counteract dryness in the body. Salt softens hardness and masses and is used in many Chinese herbal formulas for cancer and/or other tumors or cysts. It also promotes bowel movements, drawing water into the bowels by its osmotic action.
In Ayurvedic medicine, the traditional medicine of India, salt in small amounts is thought to markedly strengthen one’s energy by building reserves and crystallizing direction and action. Kala namak, or black salt, is a common salt in northern India, where in addition to its culinary benefits as a cooling spice, it is considered a digestive aid.
CRAFT: ARTISAN SALT MAKING
Let there be work, bread, water, and salt for all —Nelson Mandela
There are two types of salt; rock and evaporative. Rock salts are mined from salt deposits in the earth. Evaporative salts are crystallized from saltwater seas, lakes, or springs. From these two basic sources come countless varieties of salt. The vast majority of artisan salts are evaporative salts, each a manifestation of the unique circumstances inspiring and constraining its production. Some salts are born with the scantest of interventions from man, crystallizing whenever the sun so much as bats an eyelash. Other salts crystallize grudgingly after months and years of back-breaking labor—of painstakingly collecting, sequestering, and monitoring seawater. Some crystals may never form at all in the open air, and so are born only under cover in a greenhouse. Others must wait for fire built under a boiling vat to bring them to life. Some need both.
And human intervention is just a small part of the story. Nature seems at times bent on defying its own laws, making the strangest things happen at the strangest times and for the strangest reasons, or sometimes for no discernible reason at all. Salt crystals in cooler climates may blossom unexpectedly on the surface of water only on the rarest of days when a light, warm breeze tickles the surface of a salt pan. In warmer climates, the crystals may vanish with the first breath of wind, lingering long enough to be harvested only in the cool calm of early morning.
Defined by the crystalline structure of their dominant mineral, sodium chloride, salt crystals often resolve themselves into tidy cubes. Industrial salt manufacturers have capitalized on this to create