Salt: A World History

Kurlansky presents a Swedish custom knows as the “dream porridge” (129). A girl would eat the salted food, which had been made in silence. Then her future husband would visit her in her next dream and give her water to drink: “The Swedish dream of salt is well documented. The Swedes had a wealth of herring but nothing with which to salt it” (129). The demand for herring was next only to cod. Herring will travel for thousands of miles to find zooplankton to eat, meaning that they can never be depended on to stay in reliable locations: “In the Middle Ages, adultery was thought to be a major cause of herring leaving” (130).

Herring had to be dried and salted within twenty-four hours of being caught, so the increase in the herring market had to be accompanied by increased supplies of salt: “In 1350, Wilhelm Beuckelzon, a fisherman from Zeeland, started a practice of pickling herring in brine, fresh with no drying at all, and therefore the fish could be cured without the risk of its fat turning rancid from exposure to the air” (131). Salted fish were more commonly eaten by the poor; the upper class could have their fish shipped fresh: “Cured herring had an even lower standing than salted cod, and it was hated by many poor people who had nothing else to eat for holy days” (132).

The shortage of salt in the north was frustrating, particularly because the northern waters had the most plentiful fish. Denmark, Sweden, England, and Norway turned to a method of salt cultivation made by burning peat that had been soaked in brine, but peat salt was often mixed with ashes. When peat salt was not an option, smoking fish was a short-term solution.

Kurlansky gives the procedure for salting herring. The fish were immediately gutted after being pulled from the water, then mixed with dry salt crystals and placed in a barrel. The salt would dissolve over the next day, after which more salt was added and the barrel was closed: “A barrel containing 500 to 600 herring would require fifty-five pints of salt” (139).

In England and Holland, the seasonal arrival of the herring was a linchpin of their economies, to the point where lookouts were posted to announce the first sightings. 

Kurlansky presents France as a nearly ungovernable nation: “Given its limited area, the amalgamation that became France has a remarkable diversity of climates, topography, and cultures” (144). The French referred to their forming country as The Hexagon: “The Hexagon offered a wealth of salt: rock salt, brine springs, and both Mediterranean and Atlantic sea salt” (144).

Royal tables were decorated with ornate saltshakers shaped like ships, that were called nefs. Nefs contained compartments that held other powders believed to aid in digestion, or even antidotes to poisons, if their owners were paranoid about being poisoned at dinner. Chests known as saltcellars were also popular and were made of gold and silver and often encrusted with gems. Fine salt was only affordable for the upper class, but everyone in France used salt.

Sauerkraut was a popular dish that was generally reserved for special occasions. The sauerkraut market grew quickly: “Like wine, salt, and salted meats, sauerkraut was an important international trading commodity for Alsace” (150). In 1773, an English doctor claimed that sauerkraut prevented scurvy, spreading the demand for the food further than before. But it was only possible with salt: “It is the presence of salt throughout France, along with either cows, goats, or sheep, that has made it the notoriously ungovernable land of 265 kinds of cheese” (154). Cheesemakers were all trying to preserve milk with salt, but given the varying climates, methods, and tools of the makers, cheese was coming out in many different ways.

During the Black Plague in the 14th century, the fishing village of Collioure was spared the ravages of the disease. This was believed to be due to the stores of salt on hand, which were used to treat anchovies: “Since the time of ancient Greece, anchovies have been the most praised salted fish in the Mediterranean, and since the Middle Ages those of Collioure have been regarded as the best salted anchovies in the world” (160). Collioure also dealt heavily in other salted fish, and made so much money that the French Crown exempted the town from a salt tax.