"When they went ashore the animals that took up a land life carried with them a part of the sea in their bodies, a heritage which they passed on to their children and which even today links each land animal with its origin in the ancient sea. Fish, amphibian, and reptile, warm-blooded bird and mammal - each of us carries in our veins a salty stream in which the elements sodium, potassium, and calcium are combined in almost the same proportions as in sea water. This is our inheritance from the day, untold millions of years ago, when a remote ancestor, having progressed from the one-celled to the many-celled stage, first developed a circulatory system in which the fluid was merely the water of the sea. In the same way, our lime-hardened skeletons are a heritage from the calcium-rich ocean of Cambrian time. Even the protoplasm that streams within each cell of our bodies has the chemical structure impressed upon all living matter when the first simple creatures were brought forth in the ancient sea." from "The Sea Around Us" by Rachael Carson. (1)
How old is the gathering of salt? Archeologists find evidence of salt use at the time of the mastadons. When agriculture allowed for settlements, they were established where salt was obtainable. Water, Bread and Salt were among the items offered on altars to the Gods. A small loaf of bread and a sachet of salt were a traditional gift in many parts of the world. The Roman army was paid in salt providing us with the word salary. Wars and rebellions were fought for access to salt. There is history of a salt tax in China going back 4,000 years. To keep control of the people, the British monopolized salt works and taxed salt in its colonies. Early settlers on the east coast of America were forbidden to produce their own salt. Salt deprivation played a part in India's widespread famines during the years of British colonial rule. From The Salt Institute website (2) In a demonstration of civil disobedience Mohandas Gandhi led the famous Salt March to the sea Arriving there on April 6, 1930, he said, "This is Indian salt from the Indian Ocean and it belongs to Indians." He and his followers made and sold salt and through their non-violent resistence to all attempts to stop them turned the tide of public opinion in their favor and eventually ended colonial rule.(3) No longer a medium of political or economic oppression, salt is freely distributed and cheap in the world today. In most countries some whole salt is still being gathered and sold.
From ancient sea beds high in the Andean plateau and others on every continent, from salt mines and from the marshlands next to the sea, salt is still gathered using ancient methods. The best salt is not heated. It is dried by sun and wind and carefully harvested so that it needs no washing. In this way all of it's life sustaining minerals are retained.
In Cochabamba, Bolivia, it was not unusual to see Llamas grazing in the park along the river. Children came here to play on the swings and to pet the animals in the small zoo; well, not the condor. The llamas had packs on their backs and bells on their harnesses. One looked up at us, while chewing a mouthful of grass. There were six or eight young men and women dressed in creamy white homespun and brightly colored woven vests and shawls. The predominate use of red told us they were from the area around Potosi and the identical pattern of the weaving spoke of their village. Beautiful in their youth and happiness, they were laughing and joking among themselves as they lunched. "We come from Uyuni", they told us. "We bring the salt."
A few hundred miles to the northeast, in a remote part of the western Amazon jungle, 2,000 miles from the sea, a woman has gathered certain plants and is slowly burning them to ashes. She gathers the ashes and adds them to her sauce transforming it into a mineral rich salt substitute. This sauce and the practice of roasting their meat provides enough minerals to maintain the superior health common to those peoples living in the traditional ways. Relying on ashes for minerals was reported by Weston Price when he visited the north sea islanders. They used ashes saturated with smoke residue from a year's worth of fires to mulch their fields where they planted oats. On testing, the oats proved to be high enough in minerals to provide to amply supply their needs.
In England and America, the application of chemistry to industrial uses created a new form of salt manufacturing wherein minerals are chemically extracted from salt and sold separately. Manufacturing of salt for human consumption accounts for only 7% of production. (4) When setting standards the Food and Drug Administration, (FDA) consulted the salt manufacturing industry and Sodium Chloride, (NaCl) table salt became standard.
Most Americans are not aware of any other salt than Morton's and Leslie's. Due to health problems attributed to salt, we are being told to cut down or do without by our doctors. It is easy for us to consume more salt than we realise as it seasons virtually all processed foods which is where American's spend 90% of their food dollars.
In the 1970s Jacques de Langre, an American born bio-chemist, educated in Belgium, began importing Light Grey Celtic Sea Salt from a 900-year-old salt works in Brittany. These salt flats are protected in France as a national shrine. The salt itself is listed as a national treasure. French doctors advise patients to switch to Celtic sea salt to lower blood pressure. Jacques de Langre established The Grain and Salt Society and through their mail order business and his books has created a growing market for whole salt both for its taste and its healthful qualities.
According to de Langre whole salt is gentle on the tastebuds. The taste for salt is more easily satisfied and you need less. The actions of the other minerals and trace minerals present in whole salt buffer the NaCl and make food more digestible, so that smaller portions satisfy one's nutritional requirements. (6) It is the magnesium, a moisture retaining mineral in the slightly moist sun-dried sea salt crystals that acts to remove excess sodium so that it doesn't accumulate in the tissues. (7)
In his book, "Seasalt's Hidden Powers", Jacques de Langre presents a chart comparing manufactured salt to Celtic sea salt. This chart is valuable for the completeness and precision of a bio-chemist and is quoted here in it's entirety.
"Celtic sea salt is 84% Sodium & chlorine; refined salt is 97% NaCl. Celtic seasalt contains 14% of the macro minerals sulfur, magnesium, calcium and potassium. Refined salt has none of these. Celtic seasalt has 1.9997%, Carbon, bromine, silicon, nitrogen, ammonium, fluorine, phosphorus, iodine, boron, and lithium. Refined salt has none of these. Celtic seasalt has 0.0003% trace minerals argon, rubidium, copper, barium, helium, indium, molybdenum, nickel, arsenic, uranium, manganese, vanadium, aluminum, cobalt, antimony, silver, zinc, drypton, chromium, mercury, neon, cadmium, erbium, germanium, zenon, scandium, gallium, zirconium, lead, bismuth, niobium, gold, thulium, thallium, lanthanum, neodymium, thorium, cerium, cesium, terbium, ytterbium, yttrium, dysprosium, selenium, lutetium, hafnium, gadolinium, praseodymium, tin, beryllium, samarium, holmium, tantalum, europium. Refined salt has none of these. Celtic sea salt has 0% chemical additives. Refined salt has 2.5% chemical additives which bleach, prevent water absorption, stabilize iodine additives, and maintain free flow." (8)
Just in the last five years various gourmet salts from many small traditional salt works have become available in gourmet sections of grocery stores, in healthfood stores and on the internet. High quality sea salt comes to us from Portugal, the state of Main, and Hawaii. Traditionally mined Himalyan Crystal Salt is a popular choice. Trader Joe's recently put their brand on a sea salt from Spain. Next year may see ten more sources of artisan produced, whole salt appear.
Perhaps you will soon join the growing number of people who are nourishing their bodies with a pinch of salt containing the natural balance of minerals that mirrors our own.
In 1984 a United Nations project of the Food and Agriculture Organization, (FAO) and the World Health Organization, (WHO) adopted the US FDA standard for the Codex Alimentarius. It reads;
"3.1 MINIMUM NACL CONTENT: The content of NaCl shall not be less than 97% on a dry matter basis, exclusive of additives."
According to these standards Iodine, fluoride, and anti-caking agents such as potassium cyanide and aluminum silicate may be legally added to sodium chloride for table salt. The second class of salt is 96% sodium chloride. This is the Kosher salt used for extracting blood from meat. The third classification is raw, unwashed salt for dumping on roads to prevent freezing. Hand harvested salt falls into this third category. (5) Already the country of Portugal has adopted Codex rules. Their excellent seasalt is being exported to France as it is not allowed to be sold for human consumption in Portugal.
The purpose of the Codex is to have a standard which will be adopted by all nations. As of this writing Codex Alimentarius is being debated and in some instances revised to reflect data brought forth by health practitioners and scientists in Europe and England. Alliance for Natural Health.org is a place where you can connect to those who are working to revise the above standards and ensure human access to life supporting salt.
By Judy Morris, jem@realamazontreasure.com
Sources:
1. Rachael Carson, "The Sea Around Us", Oxford University Press, New York, 1951
2. Salt Institute, History, at their website.
3. The film "Gandhi" 1982
4. Encyclopedia Britannica entry "Salt"
5. Codex Alimentarius, found on line. (The Codex Alimentarius Commission was created in 1963 by FAO and WHO to develop food standards, guidelines and related texts such as codes of practice under the Joint FAO / WHO Food Standards.)
6. Jacques de Langre, "Seasalt's Hidden Powers", Happiness press, Asheville, NC 28805, 1994
7. Jacques de Langre, part on magnesium from interview with Sam Biser, 1983, which can be found at http://www.healing4all.co.uk/salt.htm Question: " Why does Celtic salt lower blood pressure? What's the mechanism?" .
8. ibid "Seasalt's Hidden Powers" page 12.
