WEBVTT - Ep 194 Salt Part 1: The Seasoning 0:00:00.400 --> 0:00:04.440 The so called liquomen is made. In this manner, the 0:00:04.480 --> 0:00:07.760 intestines of fish are thrown into a vessel and salted. 0:00:08.400 --> 0:00:11.959 Small fish, either the best smelt or small mullet or 0:00:12.000 --> 0:00:15.320 sprats or wolffish, or whatever is deemed to be small, 0:00:15.640 --> 0:00:19.480 are all salted together and shaken frequently, and are fermented 0:00:19.520 --> 0:00:22.840 in the sun. After it has been reduced in the heat, 0:00:23.200 --> 0:00:26.680 garam is obtained from it. In this way, a large, 0:00:26.920 --> 0:00:30.760 strong basket is placed into the vessel of the aforementioned fish, 0:00:31.000 --> 0:00:34.240 and the garum streams into the basket. In this way, 0:00:34.360 --> 0:00:37.360 the so called liquimen is strained through the basket. When 0:00:37.400 --> 0:00:41.479 it is shaken up, the remaining refuse is alec Next, 0:00:41.600 --> 0:00:44.239 if you wish to use the garum immediately, that is 0:00:44.280 --> 0:00:46.879 to say, not fermented in the sun, but to boil it, 0:00:46.960 --> 0:00:49.559 you do it this way when the brine has been 0:00:49.600 --> 0:00:53.360 tested so that an egg having been thrown in floats 0:00:53.720 --> 0:00:57.080 if it sinks it is not sufficiently salty, and throwing 0:00:57.120 --> 0:00:59.760 the fish into the brine in a newly made earthen 0:00:59.760 --> 0:01:03.120 way pot and adding in some oregano, you place it 0:01:03.160 --> 0:01:06.280 on a sufficient fire until it is boiled, that is, 0:01:06.440 --> 0:01:09.480 until it begins to reduce a little, some throw and 0:01:09.560 --> 0:01:14.480 boiled down must unfermented wine. Next throwing the cooled liquid 0:01:14.520 --> 0:01:16.959 into a filter. You toss it a second and a 0:01:17.040 --> 0:01:20.119 third time through the filter until it turns out clear. 0:01:20.680 --> 0:02:11.519 After having covered it, store it away. 0:02:11.680 --> 0:02:16.880 So did you like that? What is happening at home? 0:02:17.040 --> 0:02:23.880 Instructions to make this fishy salty, fishy sauce called garum 0:02:24.320 --> 0:02:27.560 that's like was very popular in ancient Rome. That recipe 0:02:27.600 --> 0:02:32.120 comes from I mean, the original recipes are probably hundreds 0:02:32.160 --> 0:02:35.000 of years earlier, but that one comes from nine hundred 0:02:35.480 --> 0:02:38.880 CE from a Greek agricultural manual. 0:02:40.960 --> 0:02:53.079 I have so many questions, like what what why? 0:02:53.880 --> 0:02:56.720 I mean, who doesn't love a little salty sauce on there? 0:02:57.120 --> 0:02:58.919 A little sauce. So it's the sauce, so you're not 0:02:58.960 --> 0:03:01.320 going to eat the fish. It's like the sauce part 0:03:01.400 --> 0:03:05.400 that you're keeping. I mean it's it's also like made 0:03:05.480 --> 0:03:09.400 from fishy, fishy. You're salting the fish, but it's this, 0:03:09.639 --> 0:03:12.480 it's the filter. It's the filterrait that you're keeping. 0:03:12.560 --> 0:03:17.600 Yeah, but I imagine it it tastes fishy, fishy, yeah yeah, yeah, 0:03:17.680 --> 0:03:18.079 it's like. 0:03:19.880 --> 0:03:20.520 Fish sauce. 0:03:20.840 --> 0:03:23.640 I mean, I don't know what it tastes like. 0:03:23.760 --> 0:03:26.120 But I I mean, should we try it? I would 0:03:26.120 --> 0:03:29.440 love to. I love fish sauce, so me too could 0:03:29.480 --> 0:03:29.839 be good. 0:03:31.280 --> 0:03:35.120 Yeah, this is going to be a couple of weird episodes. 0:03:35.440 --> 0:03:37.960 I'm really excited about it. 0:03:38.080 --> 0:03:41.560 Hi, I'm Aaron Welsh and I'm Aaron aman Updyke and 0:03:41.640 --> 0:03:43.400 this is this podcast will kill you. 0:03:43.680 --> 0:03:47.280 It's getting weird. But we're talking about Salt. Salt, Salt. 0:03:48.240 --> 0:03:53.800 This all starts two episodes. Honestly, though, like I think 0:03:53.920 --> 0:03:56.960 it ended up it started. We've been through a roller 0:03:57.000 --> 0:04:00.520 coaster of feelings about Salt throughout the process. The making 0:04:00.600 --> 0:04:04.400 of it started because I was like, I bought the 0:04:04.440 --> 0:04:06.320 book Salt. I found it at a thrift store and 0:04:06.360 --> 0:04:08.000 I was like, I've been wanting to read this book 0:04:08.080 --> 0:04:08.600 for a while. 0:04:10.760 --> 0:04:13.320 And I was like, I basically strong armed you into 0:04:13.360 --> 0:04:14.840 doing two episodes on Salt. 0:04:15.000 --> 0:04:15.600 It's accurate. 0:04:16.120 --> 0:04:18.640 And then I was like I don't want to do 0:04:18.680 --> 0:04:21.000 this anymore, and you were like, no, I found a 0:04:21.000 --> 0:04:23.200 good story, Let's do this. And I was like okay, 0:04:23.240 --> 0:04:25.159 and then I was like, oh cool, Actually Salt is 0:04:25.200 --> 0:04:26.159 really interesting. 0:04:27.480 --> 0:04:31.960 Yeah. Really, we went back and forth several times, had 0:04:31.960 --> 0:04:33.599 some regrets, came through it. 0:04:33.960 --> 0:04:36.640 Yeah, I think we'll have no regrets at the end 0:04:36.680 --> 0:04:36.920 of it. 0:04:37.279 --> 0:04:44.719 No, I'm already like really stoked for today. I am too. 0:04:44.880 --> 0:04:47.560 I am too. We do have some business to get 0:04:47.560 --> 0:04:48.440 out of the way first. 0:04:48.760 --> 0:04:51.520 Yeah, should we like warn people what these two episodes 0:04:51.520 --> 0:04:53.200 are going to be about. Oh, yeah, that's probably a 0:04:53.200 --> 0:04:54.040 good idea. 0:04:54.520 --> 0:04:57.040 Yeah, the first episode, so today, what I'm going to 0:04:57.120 --> 0:05:00.000 be talking about is kind of the historical aspects of salt, 0:05:00.279 --> 0:05:03.920 like why when did we start using it as much 0:05:03.960 --> 0:05:08.320 as we did? And some just like honestly, you're gonna 0:05:08.640 --> 0:05:11.120 be well equipped to hit up the next Trivia night 0:05:11.360 --> 0:05:12.839 if there are any questions about salt. 0:05:13.000 --> 0:05:15.839 I love that. I'm really I hope there's a whole 0:05:16.279 --> 0:05:20.560 salt based section in your next Trivia Day. 0:05:20.839 --> 0:05:23.200 That wouldn't that be If there is, please let us know. 0:05:23.440 --> 0:05:24.359 That would be so great. 0:05:24.440 --> 0:05:26.880 And then you next episode, Aaron, tell them what you're 0:05:26.880 --> 0:05:27.679 going to be talking about. 0:05:27.760 --> 0:05:30.839 I'm going to talk about salt and our health. There 0:05:30.839 --> 0:05:34.120 you go, broadly, very very broadly speaking. 0:05:34.240 --> 0:05:36.760 I'm excited for this because I feel like there is 0:05:36.880 --> 0:05:38.239 so much noise. 0:05:38.920 --> 0:05:45.720 Yes, okay, but you're right, we have some business first. 0:05:46.760 --> 0:05:49.599 Quarantiny times, Quarantiny time I love how it's turned from 0:05:49.640 --> 0:05:52.120 like a fun thing that we do to business. 0:05:52.520 --> 0:05:54.400 It is business, the business portion of it. 0:05:55.200 --> 0:05:57.919 We're drinking grains of salt. 0:05:57.880 --> 0:05:59.960 Grains of salt because there's a lot. 0:05:59.760 --> 0:06:02.880 Of the history of salt that you should take with 0:06:02.920 --> 0:06:05.599 a grain of salt, and there's definitely aspects of the 0:06:05.720 --> 0:06:09.839 current salt debate today you should take some grains of 0:06:09.880 --> 0:06:11.480 salt with yeah. 0:06:12.200 --> 0:06:16.440 Or maybe not a or not. And the grains of 0:06:16.480 --> 0:06:17.920 salt is based on. 0:06:18.720 --> 0:06:21.919 A cocktail that you know has been established for a 0:06:21.960 --> 0:06:23.560 while that has salt in the name. 0:06:23.640 --> 0:06:26.800 It's called the Salty Dog. The Salty Dog, which we 0:06:26.960 --> 0:06:31.200 also done this before. Maybe it's fine, it's fine, we're 0:06:31.240 --> 0:06:32.120 calling it something new. 0:06:32.320 --> 0:06:35.599 Yeah, I feel like after one hundred something episodes we 0:06:35.680 --> 0:06:38.920 are allowed to repeat if we Yeah, if we try 0:06:38.920 --> 0:06:39.840 our hardest not to. 0:06:40.400 --> 0:06:41.880 Do whatever we want. 0:06:42.240 --> 0:06:46.720 It's grapefruit juice and either vodka or gin, whatever your pick, 0:06:46.760 --> 0:06:50.039 and the assaulted rim. Yeah, it's pretty simple. 0:06:49.800 --> 0:06:52.960 Pretty simple, pretty dilish. Yeah, we'll post the full recipe 0:06:53.000 --> 0:06:55.440 on our website. This podcast will kill you. Nope, we 0:06:55.480 --> 0:06:56.400 don't do that anymore. 0:06:56.560 --> 0:07:00.320 We're gonna try though Aaron List site. 0:07:00.320 --> 0:07:02.160 This podcast with Killara dot com and all of our 0:07:02.160 --> 0:07:06.520 social media is where you will definitely see it there, yes, yeah, yeah. 0:07:06.640 --> 0:07:09.240 Also on our website you can find all sorts of things, 0:07:09.279 --> 0:07:13.120 from transcripts to links to our bookshop dot org affiliate page, 0:07:13.400 --> 0:07:17.640 our Goodreads lists. You can find links to merch You 0:07:17.720 --> 0:07:24.680 can find oh man who does a link to a 0:07:24.800 --> 0:07:29.520 first hand account, form contact us form stuff like that. 0:07:30.000 --> 0:07:30.960 Everything? Yeah? 0:07:33.400 --> 0:07:33.520 Uh? 0:07:34.280 --> 0:07:37.200 Anything else? Or can we just get started? 0:07:37.440 --> 0:07:39.640 Tell me about salt erin I can't wait too. 0:07:39.680 --> 0:07:41.640 Okay, let's take a quick break and then I'll get 0:07:41.880 --> 0:08:01.200 right to it. Aaron, I love salt. 0:08:00.760 --> 0:08:02.040 I know you did. 0:08:02.200 --> 0:08:05.480 Like you've seen me eat French fries like I'm salting 0:08:05.600 --> 0:08:11.680 and already very salty food. It's not good or is it? 0:08:11.800 --> 0:08:13.640 Or I guess we'll find out more next week. 0:08:13.680 --> 0:08:15.160 No, I think it's I think it's not good. I 0:08:15.160 --> 0:08:18.720 think it's bad. But despite knowing this, despite knowing that 0:08:18.760 --> 0:08:21.880 it's probably not great, that I'm salting things and eating 0:08:21.920 --> 0:08:25.840 a lot of salt, I want more of it. I 0:08:25.920 --> 0:08:30.040 feel like I need salt. I crave salt, and it 0:08:30.120 --> 0:08:33.120 might occasionally be the case that I do actually need 0:08:33.120 --> 0:08:36.600 to replenish some salt, Like maybe I'm do a long 0:08:36.679 --> 0:08:39.840 run in the heat, or I'm working outside all day 0:08:41.160 --> 0:08:44.200 and I'm sweating out lots of salt. But in general, 0:08:44.240 --> 0:08:46.800 nowadays we eat a whole lot more salt than we 0:08:47.120 --> 0:08:50.240 need to like make up for, right, Like we're able 0:08:50.280 --> 0:08:52.920 to make up the salt that we lose pretty easily. Yeah, 0:08:54.559 --> 0:08:58.920 But what does enough salt mean? Like, what does it 0:08:58.960 --> 0:09:01.679 mean in a biological sense? I mean, and I'm not 0:09:01.720 --> 0:09:04.880 going to answer that question, but the answer does vary 0:09:04.920 --> 0:09:08.320 from person to person, I think in general, and there 0:09:08.400 --> 0:09:12.199 are guidelines that also help to determine what enough is. 0:09:12.679 --> 0:09:15.720 These guidelines have, of course, undergone some shifts in the 0:09:15.720 --> 0:09:20.640 past few decades. In his book Salt, a World History, 0:09:20.840 --> 0:09:25.640 author Mark Kurlanski writes that the average human contains about 0:09:25.679 --> 0:09:28.679 two hundred and fifty grams of salt, So that. 0:09:28.720 --> 0:09:31.160 Statistic, right, which is enough to fill? 0:09:31.320 --> 0:09:35.920 Just to visualize this, a couple a few standard sized salt. 0:09:35.640 --> 0:09:38.640 Shakers, yeah, yeah, like the little ones you have on 0:09:38.679 --> 0:09:40.120 your dinner table salty. 0:09:40.240 --> 0:09:40.480 Yeah. 0:09:40.640 --> 0:09:41.439 Yeah. 0:09:41.480 --> 0:09:45.120 Whenever we lose salt, which we're constantly doing through bodily 0:09:45.160 --> 0:09:48.840 functions like sweating or peeing, we need to consume more 0:09:48.880 --> 0:09:52.600 to replenish what we've lost. If we don't, in extreme cases, 0:09:52.640 --> 0:09:55.440 we do run the risk of our bodies shutting down. Basically, 0:09:55.760 --> 0:09:59.800 salt is essential for life, and when I say salt, 0:10:00.040 --> 0:10:03.000 I am referring to the dietary salt that we think of, 0:10:03.120 --> 0:10:06.640 mostly sodium chloride, the stuff that we consume, not salt 0:10:06.679 --> 0:10:09.000 is in like the broad chemical term for when an 0:10:09.000 --> 0:10:10.199 acid combines with a base. 0:10:10.920 --> 0:10:15.600 I have like the same disclaimer episode too. 0:10:15.880 --> 0:10:18.120 Like just I know someone's gonna be like, excuse me, 0:10:18.160 --> 0:10:21.360 salt is actually quite a broad term. Yeah, I know, 0:10:21.440 --> 0:10:27.480 but I'm talking about salt, like talking about sodium sodium. Yeah, exactly. Yeah. 0:10:27.640 --> 0:10:30.120 I also don't know how you would approach a history 0:10:30.280 --> 0:10:33.360 of like salt in the broad chemical sense. 0:10:34.640 --> 0:10:36.640 I don't know. You learned about ions and. 0:10:37.360 --> 0:10:40.040 I guess sure, I mean, but to be honest, like, 0:10:40.080 --> 0:10:42.560 I'm also still grappling with how you approach a history 0:10:42.600 --> 0:10:46.040 of table salt like sodium chloride. Salt because it has 0:10:46.200 --> 0:10:51.000 had and it continues to have, such a profound influence 0:10:51.080 --> 0:10:54.760 throughout so much of our species, evolutionary and written history. 0:10:55.840 --> 0:11:00.800 Salt has held symbolic and religious significance. It has shaped 0:11:00.880 --> 0:11:04.199 human settlement, It has led to revolutions, It has been 0:11:04.280 --> 0:11:08.000 used as a commodity, a currency, and as a medicine. 0:11:08.280 --> 0:11:11.640 Salt has held the key to some nation's prosperity and 0:11:11.679 --> 0:11:15.880 the downfall of others. It's some pretty powerful stuff. 0:11:16.280 --> 0:11:18.120 Yeah, sounds like it, right. 0:11:19.160 --> 0:11:23.880 But now, when you can saunter into any grocery store 0:11:23.960 --> 0:11:26.120 and pick up a jar of the stuff for pennies, 0:11:26.400 --> 0:11:29.400 you might not be awestruck by the wonder of salt. 0:11:30.040 --> 0:11:33.359 In fact, you might instead be shopping for low sodium alternatives. 0:11:33.920 --> 0:11:36.000 How can I get less of this stuff? 0:11:36.000 --> 0:11:37.600 How can I avoid this? Right? 0:11:37.679 --> 0:11:41.840 But that would blow the minds of time travelers from 0:11:41.920 --> 0:11:45.840 almost any other point in history prior to the twentieth century. Really, 0:11:45.840 --> 0:11:47.839 what do you mean you don't want salt in your food? 0:11:48.080 --> 0:11:51.080 What do you mean salt is so cheap? These days, 0:11:51.240 --> 0:11:53.360 we don't think twice about whether or not we'll have 0:11:53.400 --> 0:11:56.480 access to salt. If anything, our primary concern when it 0:11:56.480 --> 0:11:58.400 comes to salt is how to eat less of it 0:11:58.600 --> 0:12:01.680 for our health. That wasn't the case for most of 0:12:01.760 --> 0:12:06.600 human history. One of the things that I love about 0:12:06.679 --> 0:12:10.840 microhistories is how they always make the case for like 0:12:11.280 --> 0:12:15.959 this thing, this subject, this invention, this incident, this one 0:12:16.000 --> 0:12:20.840 point in history holds the key to everything. It explains everything. 0:12:21.840 --> 0:12:25.360 But with salt, though, I'm like kind of convinced you 0:12:25.400 --> 0:12:30.560 buy it. I'm buying it. I'm buying it. All animals 0:12:30.720 --> 0:12:34.280 need salt. How much they need and where they get 0:12:34.280 --> 0:12:36.720 it from depends on the species. 0:12:36.320 --> 0:12:37.320 Or the individual. 0:12:37.640 --> 0:12:39.960 And next week, Arin, you'll do this the honor of 0:12:40.120 --> 0:12:44.040 talking about how much we humans need, maybe, which, as 0:12:44.080 --> 0:12:46.960 we'll see, is a very contentious issue, much more so 0:12:47.040 --> 0:12:49.920 than I realized. But for now, I want to tell 0:12:50.000 --> 0:12:53.000 you where humans got salt and what we did with it, 0:12:53.160 --> 0:12:56.560 what we used to do with it. Salt occurs naturally 0:12:56.840 --> 0:12:59.439 in all sorts of forms, right. It's in salt water 0:12:59.520 --> 0:13:05.000 the ocean and seas, in salt springs, in salt deposits underground, 0:13:05.080 --> 0:13:08.600 like rock salt in the crusts of dried salty lakes. 0:13:09.440 --> 0:13:12.880 We can consume or harvest salt directly from these sources, 0:13:13.000 --> 0:13:15.560 and we can also get salt from eating the things 0:13:15.640 --> 0:13:19.920 that also take in salt, like, for instance, animals. Right, So, 0:13:20.040 --> 0:13:22.760 early humans got a good proportion of their salt from 0:13:22.880 --> 0:13:26.400 the wild game that they killed, including both like eating 0:13:26.520 --> 0:13:30.640 consuming the meat of animals and their blood like drinking 0:13:30.640 --> 0:13:35.760 the blood or using the blood to make other dishes exactly, yeah, 0:13:36.160 --> 0:13:39.080 or we got salt from fish or other marine life 0:13:39.360 --> 0:13:42.360 for those that were living closer to the coasts. But 0:13:42.520 --> 0:13:46.400 as humans started to settle in larger groups and develop agriculture, 0:13:46.679 --> 0:13:51.440 diet shifted to include proportionally more grains and vegetables, which 0:13:51.480 --> 0:13:56.200 are generally speaking, much lower in salt than animal products. Fortunately, 0:13:56.520 --> 0:14:01.040 domesticated livestock like sheep, pigs, and cattle fall close behind 0:14:01.160 --> 0:14:04.800 the development of agriculture, making them a handy, close by 0:14:05.000 --> 0:14:09.440 source of salt. One paper I read suggested that livestock 0:14:09.480 --> 0:14:14.760 domestication was actually helped along because the wild ancestors of 0:14:14.800 --> 0:14:18.320 these animals were drawn to human settlements by the salt 0:14:18.400 --> 0:14:22.080 content of human urine. They would be attracted to human settlements. 0:14:22.640 --> 0:14:26.160 Interesting, right, So then it made it easier to domesticate 0:14:26.160 --> 0:14:28.960 them because they're like coming over anywhere anyway. 0:14:29.360 --> 0:14:32.360 Maybe they're getting used to humans, you know, like yeah, yeah, 0:14:32.400 --> 0:14:34.400 I mean I don't know, and I don't know how 0:14:34.400 --> 0:14:39.400 you would like actually measure that in any capacity, but yeah, 0:14:39.440 --> 0:14:43.840 but it's a fun idea, yeah, and so and also 0:14:43.880 --> 0:14:46.600 I think it's like which animals would be drawn to that, 0:14:46.680 --> 0:14:49.400 So I mentioned earlier. How some animals need more salt 0:14:49.440 --> 0:14:51.760 than others, or they vary in how they get it. 0:14:52.160 --> 0:14:55.200 The general rule that I saw mentioned was that carnivores 0:14:55.240 --> 0:14:58.320 tend to get their salt from their prey because the 0:14:58.360 --> 0:15:02.800 bodies of animals contain lot more salt than like grasses 0:15:02.840 --> 0:15:06.760 and veggies and whatnot, and so herbivores will often supplement 0:15:06.800 --> 0:15:11.480 with naturally occurring sources of salt, like salt licks. Here's 0:15:11.520 --> 0:15:13.640 my big reveal. So I have the sweatshirt on. 0:15:13.920 --> 0:15:20.160 Oh my god, stop, did you have like something covering it? 0:15:20.160 --> 0:15:22.880 It's a little post it that's ramen. It's like, yeah, 0:15:23.000 --> 0:15:24.160 instant ramen post it. 0:15:25.360 --> 0:15:32.240 That's so good on so many levels. Oh wait where 0:15:32.280 --> 0:15:33.280 their sweatshirts from? 0:15:33.440 --> 0:15:36.080 So my sweatshirt is a place that I have taken 0:15:36.120 --> 0:15:36.600 you erin. 0:15:37.040 --> 0:15:38.040 It is called. 0:15:38.160 --> 0:15:41.800 Big Bone Lick State Historic Site. We call it Big 0:15:41.800 --> 0:15:45.040 Bone Lick State Park. Growing up Bone Baby Big Bone Lick. 0:15:45.200 --> 0:15:48.080 So this is in northern Kentucky. Yes, that is the 0:15:48.120 --> 0:15:51.680 actual name of it. Yes, I am wrapping a sweatshirt 0:15:51.680 --> 0:15:54.080 that also has a wooly mammoth on it. 0:15:55.320 --> 0:15:57.000 I wish you could see it better. Your mic isn't 0:15:57.000 --> 0:15:58.080 exactly the wrong spot. 0:15:58.320 --> 0:15:59.160 Can you see it now? 0:16:00.080 --> 0:16:01.920 There? It is chuck it out. 0:16:02.560 --> 0:16:07.840 It's red, it is red, and it's It's called Big 0:16:07.840 --> 0:16:10.360 Bone Leake State Park because there are old salt licks 0:16:10.360 --> 0:16:13.640 that prehistoric megafauna used to come to for salt. There 0:16:13.680 --> 0:16:16.880 are so many lots of fossils of things like mammoth, 0:16:17.040 --> 0:16:20.600 ground sloths, et cetera there, and it's known. I'm like, 0:16:20.720 --> 0:16:22.560 it's so thrilling to talk about Big. 0:16:22.360 --> 0:16:23.120 Bone State Park. 0:16:24.040 --> 0:16:27.600 It's known as the birthplace of American vertebrate paleontology because 0:16:27.640 --> 0:16:29.320 of all of these fossils. 0:16:28.800 --> 0:16:29.920 That have been found there. 0:16:30.440 --> 0:16:32.920 And it's funny too, a lot of the fossils that 0:16:32.960 --> 0:16:36.680 were found are actually reside in other countries because it 0:16:36.760 --> 0:16:38.600 was like in the seventeen hundreds and so and so 0:16:38.640 --> 0:16:42.240 they're all just being shipped out to other places eighteen hundreds. 0:16:43.600 --> 0:16:46.840 But also it's I just have to mention it is 0:16:46.880 --> 0:16:51.480 in fairly close proximity to the Creation Museum, which I 0:16:51.560 --> 0:16:56.560 just find particularly a little you know, rich irony. 0:16:56.120 --> 0:16:57.000 A little on the nose. 0:16:57.160 --> 0:17:00.920 Yeah, it is. But also at Big Bone Lick State 0:17:01.000 --> 0:17:05.399 Park State Historic Site, there is an annual salt festival 0:17:05.640 --> 0:17:09.280 that is held there. I've only been once but I 0:17:09.359 --> 0:17:13.080 remember some of the salt making demonstrations. It's really cool. 0:17:13.359 --> 0:17:16.000 It happens around mid October if I remember correctly, So 0:17:16.080 --> 0:17:17.760 if you're in the area next year, you should definitely 0:17:17.840 --> 0:17:22.640 check it out. Anyway, that's my little plug for State Park. Yes, 0:17:23.880 --> 0:17:25.960 there's a put putt, the free put putt course. We 0:17:26.000 --> 0:17:29.800 go there all the time. Anyway, back to salt licks 0:17:29.840 --> 0:17:33.720 and animals and domestication, you can also see this happening now. 0:17:33.760 --> 0:17:36.919 So for instance, if you here in Colorado, if you 0:17:37.040 --> 0:17:40.840 drive up to Mount Blue Sky, often the goats will 0:17:40.880 --> 0:17:43.920 come and to your cars and lick the salt off 0:17:43.920 --> 0:17:44.639 of your cars. 0:17:45.080 --> 0:17:45.840 Interesting. 0:17:46.240 --> 0:17:48.679 Yeah, and it's not like these these mountain goats are 0:17:49.359 --> 0:17:52.720 on their way to domestication, just that animals are drawn 0:17:52.800 --> 0:17:58.160 to salt, as are humans. Many early human settlements were 0:17:58.200 --> 0:18:01.680 situated close to sources of salt, you know, salty springs, 0:18:01.760 --> 0:18:06.760 salty lakes, underground deposits of rock salt. Archaeological evidence has 0:18:06.880 --> 0:18:11.520 actually been found at Big Bone Lick of early human habitation. 0:18:12.960 --> 0:18:16.520 Some sources provided a steady supply of salt year round, 0:18:16.920 --> 0:18:19.520 while others were more subject to the whims of like 0:18:19.600 --> 0:18:22.719 climate and environment. You can see this with like rising 0:18:22.720 --> 0:18:25.439 sea levels or falling sea levels like it changes the 0:18:25.480 --> 0:18:29.480 access to salt. Salt, and so having access to a 0:18:29.520 --> 0:18:34.520 steady source became the primary motivator for salt extraction or 0:18:34.600 --> 0:18:39.600 mining or refining technologies which date back thousands of years 0:18:39.640 --> 0:18:45.760 to at least around three thousand BCE. Yeah, and this 0:18:45.840 --> 0:18:51.760 is in ancient China mostly, And those cities or towns 0:18:51.880 --> 0:18:55.320 or settlements that over centuries had the salt and the 0:18:55.359 --> 0:18:58.520 technology to produce it, they were the ones that grew 0:18:58.680 --> 0:19:01.960 that often grew wealthy and powerful as they controlled this 0:19:02.119 --> 0:19:07.520 valuable commodity. Why did we want so much salt? Like, 0:19:07.960 --> 0:19:08.600 did we need it? 0:19:09.200 --> 0:19:12.280 Why was it? Why was it such a valuable commodity? Why? Right? 0:19:12.400 --> 0:19:14.960 Right, Well, we didn't need it in a physiological sense, 0:19:15.080 --> 0:19:17.360 right at least as far as I could tell, we 0:19:17.480 --> 0:19:23.040 needed it because salt has an incredible superpower. It can 0:19:23.080 --> 0:19:30.359 freeze time at the basic level. Salt balances fluids, It 0:19:30.480 --> 0:19:33.560 shifts the amount of water from here to there. And 0:19:33.800 --> 0:19:37.119 if you overload something like say a fish, with salt, 0:19:37.760 --> 0:19:40.399 that will suck the moisture out of the cells and 0:19:40.520 --> 0:19:43.199 prevent the growth of microbe since they can't survive in 0:19:43.200 --> 0:19:46.800 that super salty environment, and so salt is one of 0:19:46.840 --> 0:19:53.680 our earliest preservatives. Why is this a superpower? Okay, So pretend, 0:19:53.840 --> 0:19:57.560 if you will, that you live five thousand years ago 0:19:57.920 --> 0:20:01.640 and you make your living catching and selling fish. So 0:20:01.920 --> 0:20:04.959 you go out, you cast your nets, you set your lines, 0:20:05.080 --> 0:20:08.200 whatever it is however you're catching fish, and then you 0:20:08.280 --> 0:20:11.879 boat back to shore to peddle your wares. This is 0:20:12.200 --> 0:20:16.600 pre refrigeration, pre ice. Your window for selling that fish 0:20:16.800 --> 0:20:21.280 is incredibly small, as is your potential customer base. So 0:20:21.359 --> 0:20:23.160 if you happen to be selling out a day when 0:20:23.400 --> 0:20:27.400 everyone's got loads of fish, and you're like, well, you know, 0:20:27.800 --> 0:20:30.200 why would I buy yours over theirs? I can't eat 0:20:30.200 --> 0:20:32.880 this much fish, you probably have to drop your prices 0:20:32.920 --> 0:20:35.480 to be competitive. If you're able to sell at all, 0:20:35.920 --> 0:20:38.680 and if you don't sell anything that day, that means 0:20:38.680 --> 0:20:40.840 that your labor has been lost and you have to 0:20:40.880 --> 0:20:44.080 go out the next day and try again. Your income, 0:20:44.359 --> 0:20:48.199 your livelihood, it depends on the whims of the local market. 0:20:48.640 --> 0:20:52.120 It's a tenuous life to live. But if you could 0:20:52.160 --> 0:20:55.399 freeze time, at least for the fish by adding some 0:20:55.480 --> 0:20:59.200 salt and slowing its decay, you become a whole lot 0:20:59.400 --> 0:21:01.879 less to high to the day to day shifts in 0:21:01.920 --> 0:21:05.000 the market. In fact, you're not tied to your local 0:21:05.040 --> 0:21:07.840 market at all. You could bring your salted fish on 0:21:07.960 --> 0:21:12.080 long journeys along trade routes, and your fish now has 0:21:12.119 --> 0:21:15.399 more value overall since it's loaded with this tasty and 0:21:15.520 --> 0:21:20.960 precious substance. Nor are you tied to the seasonality of 0:21:21.000 --> 0:21:24.920 some foods. So during those times of scarcity, like over winter, 0:21:25.080 --> 0:21:27.280 when catch is low and you've eaten through all the 0:21:27.280 --> 0:21:30.359 food that you've stored for those long months, now you 0:21:30.520 --> 0:21:34.399 have these frozen in time salted fish getting you and 0:21:34.440 --> 0:21:38.520 your family through. It's amazing. 0:21:38.880 --> 0:21:41.200 It's pretty incredible. I mean, okay, so I have can 0:21:41.200 --> 0:21:44.800 I ask you a question? Of course? So, but this 0:21:44.960 --> 0:21:49.240 is like thousands and thousands of years ago, three thousand CE. 0:21:48.920 --> 0:21:55.960 You said, three thousand BCE BC see the future, Yeah. 0:21:55.880 --> 0:22:06.000 The future. What before people figured out salt? First of all, 0:22:06.000 --> 0:22:06.920 how did they figure it out? 0:22:07.119 --> 0:22:07.199 Like? 0:22:07.840 --> 0:22:09.520 How did how did they figure that out? And also 0:22:09.600 --> 0:22:12.240 before that was there any like was it just you 0:22:12.280 --> 0:22:15.280 could smoke things? Is that is that all they had? 0:22:15.440 --> 0:22:17.560 Or yeah, actually that's a good question. 0:22:17.600 --> 0:22:21.240 I don't know when smoking, like the relative timing of 0:22:21.280 --> 0:22:27.320 smoking versus salting but also, I mean smoking takes fuel 0:22:27.840 --> 0:22:32.320 right as well. Yeah, the extraction of salts also can 0:22:32.400 --> 0:22:37.399 take a lot of fuel. Okay, but yeah, what was 0:22:37.440 --> 0:22:40.360 your other question? So I don't know about salting versus smoking. 0:22:41.880 --> 0:22:46.000 You can't discover salts. Yeah, I mean I don't know 0:22:46.080 --> 0:22:49.560 except for the fact that salt tastes good, right, So 0:22:49.720 --> 0:22:53.280 I would imagine it was sort of that, Yeah, that 0:22:53.440 --> 0:22:58.480 aspect of it. Like there, do I have this quote here? Yeah, 0:22:58.520 --> 0:23:01.840 there's a quote from ancient each from an old papyrus 0:23:01.880 --> 0:23:05.199 that reads, there is no better food than salted vegetables. 0:23:05.800 --> 0:23:06.440 Huh. 0:23:06.520 --> 0:23:09.000 I'm inclined to agree to agree with that. 0:23:09.240 --> 0:23:13.840 Yeah, how interesting, Aaron. It's so weird to think about, 0:23:13.880 --> 0:23:18.160 Like someone figured out, Hey, if I like boil this water, 0:23:19.160 --> 0:23:22.160 what's leftover is this stuff and it tastes really good. Oh, 0:23:22.240 --> 0:23:24.359 by the way, also it makes my fish last longer, 0:23:24.520 --> 0:23:26.600 by the way, Now I've revolutionized the world. 0:23:26.960 --> 0:23:31.879 Yeah right, I know. And it was a trans truly 0:23:31.960 --> 0:23:37.520 transformative idea, especially in regions where climatic shifts shortened the 0:23:37.600 --> 0:23:41.199 growing or harvesting or hunting or fishing seasons. Right, So 0:23:41.359 --> 0:23:44.040 I used fish as an example, and fish would become 0:23:44.240 --> 0:23:47.960 like the hugest commodity after the fourteenth century, with like 0:23:48.040 --> 0:23:52.480 salted herring and then later cod. But salt was fundamental 0:23:52.560 --> 0:23:55.000 to the production of so many other foods, some of 0:23:55.040 --> 0:23:59.520 which had been salted for centuries. Pickling like sauerkraut and 0:23:59.520 --> 0:24:03.680 other veg cheese, the salted fish sauce than mancient Rome 0:24:03.760 --> 0:24:08.840 called garum misopei soy sauce. Cheese, butter our dairy products 0:24:08.880 --> 0:24:10.800 used to contain a lot more salt. So there was 0:24:10.800 --> 0:24:14.560 a recipe from the fourteenth century for butter that called 0:24:14.600 --> 0:24:18.040 for one pound of salt for every ten pounds of butter. 0:24:18.520 --> 0:24:21.160 Whoa, that's salty butter. 0:24:21.240 --> 0:24:23.440 I know, I would have loved it. 0:24:23.440 --> 0:24:26.760 It would be so good spread on some toast and sour. 0:24:26.680 --> 0:24:33.000 Out perfection, bacon, ham, olives. I mean, there are so 0:24:33.160 --> 0:24:36.800 many things that salt has been added to that helps 0:24:37.080 --> 0:24:38.320 prolong it shelf life. 0:24:38.440 --> 0:24:38.720 Right. 0:24:39.240 --> 0:24:43.440 Salami comes from the word for salted, as does salad. 0:24:43.840 --> 0:24:44.359 Salad. 0:24:44.560 --> 0:24:47.960 Yeah, I think it's like, yeah salted, that's hilarious. So 0:24:48.000 --> 0:24:52.600 it's like so many things, yeah, salt, food, food and salts. 0:24:53.320 --> 0:24:53.679 Yeah. 0:24:53.800 --> 0:25:10.080 Wow, it's easy to love salt. 0:25:10.160 --> 0:25:12.720 I think this shows how easy it is to love salt. 0:25:12.720 --> 0:25:16.080 The number of things that it was added to, and 0:25:16.119 --> 0:25:18.760 not just for taste, but also for practical purposes, for 0:25:18.880 --> 0:25:23.600 longevity of the foods. And this utility and love of 0:25:23.720 --> 0:25:28.960 salt created a tremendous commercial opportunity. Cities that were close 0:25:29.000 --> 0:25:31.600 to sources of salt, or those that produced lots of 0:25:31.640 --> 0:25:34.919 salted foods grew wealthy on the trade that they conducted, 0:25:35.600 --> 0:25:41.520 and as a result, global trade overall grew enormously. Salt 0:25:41.600 --> 0:25:43.480 was used for a whole lot more than just salt 0:25:43.520 --> 0:25:46.720 curing or even just like adding some seasoning to your meal. 0:25:47.280 --> 0:25:50.840 It was used to cure leather, clean chimneys, to solder pipes, 0:25:50.920 --> 0:25:54.960 glaze pottery, and as a medicine for all sorts of ailments. 0:25:55.760 --> 0:26:00.480 But it was really by reducing seasonal dependence on foods 0:26:00.520 --> 0:26:04.480 that salt made its mark on human civilizations. I don't 0:26:04.520 --> 0:26:07.480 call it a superpower. Lightly like salt was also held 0:26:07.520 --> 0:26:11.879 in great importance by many cultures. I think because of 0:26:11.520 --> 0:26:20.880 the power that it held, it represented purity, incorruptibility, immortality, loyalty, durability, 0:26:21.000 --> 0:26:23.480 hospitality like you better make sure that you have a 0:26:23.520 --> 0:26:25.520 salt cellar on the table when you have guests over 0:26:25.880 --> 0:26:29.439 Some of these salt sellers too, like historically are just 0:26:29.600 --> 0:26:34.359 so intricate and beautiful. The Romans actually held salt in 0:26:34.440 --> 0:26:36.760 such importance that they salt had to be on the 0:26:36.760 --> 0:26:39.000 table before any other dish was placed there. 0:26:40.080 --> 0:26:41.760 Ah. Yeah. 0:26:41.800 --> 0:26:46.440 It's used in many different religions, offerings, and rituals. It 0:26:46.520 --> 0:26:50.600 was linked to arousal and passion and creativity. It was 0:26:50.600 --> 0:26:53.920 thought to be important for fertility. It was the essence 0:26:54.000 --> 0:26:58.320 of life. So think of the phrase salt of the earth. 0:26:58.880 --> 0:27:02.560 According to the that's what Jesus said to his disciples. 0:27:02.760 --> 0:27:05.000 You are the salt of the earth, the best of 0:27:05.000 --> 0:27:05.800 the human race. 0:27:07.240 --> 0:27:09.640 Right, pretty big deal, salts of the earth. 0:27:10.160 --> 0:27:14.320 It was used to protect from harm. You know, Sprinkle 0:27:14.320 --> 0:27:16.639 a newborn baby with salt is what you're supposed to do. 0:27:16.720 --> 0:27:18.960 Sprinkle your herd of cows, carry a little bag of 0:27:19.000 --> 0:27:21.440 salt around your neck to ward off evil. Or if 0:27:21.440 --> 0:27:24.480 you've watched the show Supernatural, there's always a bag of salt. 0:27:24.680 --> 0:27:30.159 Saltar demons, yep, protect against demons, make your witches circles. 0:27:32.840 --> 0:27:35.719 And so to spill salt was considered a bad omen. 0:27:35.800 --> 0:27:37.680 I mean, you know, you're supposed to like throw a 0:27:37.680 --> 0:27:38.840 little bit of salt. 0:27:39.080 --> 0:27:40.160 Over your left shoulder. 0:27:41.280 --> 0:27:45.320 That would that was like, that's the least extreme response 0:27:45.440 --> 0:27:47.320 to a little bit of spilled salt. There are some 0:27:47.480 --> 0:27:49.199 places where it was like, no, then you do that, 0:27:49.240 --> 0:27:50.880 and you have to crawl under the table and then 0:27:50.920 --> 0:27:55.639 do that again, Like it's like this whole step mm hmm. Interesting, 0:27:56.080 --> 0:28:00.119 And that, like spilling salt being bad luck, goes back century. 0:28:00.600 --> 0:28:03.560 In da Vinci's Last Supper, there's a bit of spilt 0:28:03.600 --> 0:28:07.119 salt in front of judas a scariot, indicating that like 0:28:07.200 --> 0:28:08.720 this isn't that wild? 0:28:09.000 --> 0:28:10.800 I saw that salt. Salt. 0:28:11.160 --> 0:28:15.040 Yeah, spilling salt could signify the end of a friendship, 0:28:15.160 --> 0:28:21.159 or at least a quarrel. Oh, friendship was forged in salt. 0:28:22.600 --> 0:28:27.080 Homer called it a divine substance. Plato said that it 0:28:27.200 --> 0:28:31.840 was quote especially dear to the gods. Plutarch wrote that 0:28:32.200 --> 0:28:36.240 without salt, practically nothing is eatable. Salt is added even 0:28:36.280 --> 0:28:39.880 to bread and enriches its flavor. Beyond that, salty food 0:28:40.000 --> 0:28:42.640 aids digestion, and it makes any food tender. 0:28:44.040 --> 0:28:48.280 And how interesting Aaron. I know, I'm thinking about all 0:28:48.320 --> 0:28:49.600 of this in the context of what I'm going to 0:28:49.640 --> 0:28:53.360 talk about next week, and it just makes it so interesting. 0:28:53.800 --> 0:28:59.600 It's quite the rebranding of salt what we've experienced, and 0:29:00.240 --> 0:29:02.040 especially the last fifty years or so. 0:29:02.360 --> 0:29:04.200 Right, yeah, right, right, right right. 0:29:04.720 --> 0:29:07.480 I mean a Pliny went so far as to say 0:29:07.520 --> 0:29:12.560 that quote A civilized life is impossible without salt. 0:29:12.040 --> 0:29:17.520 And civilized life life is impossible impossible without salt. 0:29:19.040 --> 0:29:21.000 Is it any wonder then, that those who held the 0:29:21.040 --> 0:29:26.280 salt held the power. Salt itself was not necessarily rare, right, 0:29:26.320 --> 0:29:29.760 it was never held as more important or equally valuable 0:29:29.800 --> 0:29:32.520 as gold, for example. That's sort of like a I 0:29:32.560 --> 0:29:34.440 don't know what you call an urban legend. That's like 0:29:34.480 --> 0:29:39.000 a historical urban legend, myth maybe. 0:29:38.800 --> 0:29:40.920 Yeah, that's and I don't know, I think might be right. 0:29:41.840 --> 0:29:43.600 I have heard that, so I know what you mean 0:29:43.640 --> 0:29:43.920 by that. 0:29:44.240 --> 0:29:44.440 Yeah. 0:29:44.520 --> 0:29:45.560 Yeah. 0:29:45.600 --> 0:29:49.200 It was just that it wasn't evenly distributed across a region, 0:29:49.280 --> 0:29:51.920 and it required labor to extract and to move, and 0:29:51.960 --> 0:29:54.720 so you had to like spend some It wasn't hard 0:29:54.760 --> 0:29:56.680 to get. It was just it wasn't hard to get 0:29:56.680 --> 0:29:58.120 in the sense that it was rare. It was hard 0:29:58.120 --> 0:30:00.840 to get in the sense that it required labor. Yeah, 0:30:01.680 --> 0:30:04.680 And so those who were positioned to transport or produce 0:30:04.760 --> 0:30:09.280 salt benefited enormously from the taxes enforced on moving huge 0:30:09.320 --> 0:30:12.440 amounts of the stuff or of salted foods. So in 0:30:12.520 --> 0:30:16.280 ancient Rome, some of the first great roads were built 0:30:16.320 --> 0:30:20.680 for salt transportation purposes. Via Solaria is one of these. 0:30:20.720 --> 0:30:30.320 It means salt road salaria. Ancient Rome also had a 0:30:30.360 --> 0:30:34.040 treasury position whose job it was to make decisions about 0:30:34.200 --> 0:30:39.800 salt prices. Salt occasionally seems to have been used as currency, 0:30:40.080 --> 0:30:43.840 although not as much as is often suggested. It's another myth. 0:30:44.720 --> 0:30:48.000 And while the often repeated bit of trivia that Roman 0:30:48.040 --> 0:30:50.400 soldiers were paid in salt is not true. 0:30:50.760 --> 0:30:53.000 They were not paid in salt. They were paid in money. 0:30:54.000 --> 0:30:58.120 The word salary does come from this period, meaning someone 0:30:58.240 --> 0:31:01.120 paid an allowance to buy salt. So like if you 0:31:01.160 --> 0:31:04.080 were paid a salary, it was like, here's your allowance 0:31:04.080 --> 0:31:04.600 to buy salt. 0:31:04.600 --> 0:31:06.880 Like that is sort of where that comes. We're not 0:31:06.920 --> 0:31:08.800 paying you in salt, but we're paying you so you 0:31:08.840 --> 0:31:09.720 can go buy your salt. 0:31:09.880 --> 0:31:12.040 Yeah, exactly, Yeah, get your own salt. 0:31:12.200 --> 0:31:13.480 Yeah, get your own salt. 0:31:14.880 --> 0:31:18.320 You know that phrase, not worth his salt, meaning someone 0:31:18.400 --> 0:31:19.880 is not worth what you're paying them. 0:31:20.200 --> 0:31:24.320 Oh, that's so interesting, Aaron, Yeah, yeah, I mean there 0:31:24.400 --> 0:31:25.760 are salts. 0:31:26.000 --> 0:31:28.479 There are So this is what I'm saying, Like, you 0:31:28.480 --> 0:31:34.120 are equipped now for trivia. You You're welcome more salt sayings, 0:31:34.200 --> 0:31:36.240 or at least one more take it with a grain 0:31:36.280 --> 0:31:40.040 of salt, you know, meaning with a healthy dose of skepticism. 0:31:40.360 --> 0:31:44.400 That seems to have originated from a recipe for an 0:31:44.440 --> 0:31:47.760 antidote by planning the elder who he listed a bunch 0:31:47.760 --> 0:31:51.320 of things like Okay, so you're grinding together walnuts and 0:31:51.400 --> 0:31:55.040 figs and rue add a grain of salt, and that 0:31:55.160 --> 0:31:58.920 was thought to maybe like a digestion, and so over 0:31:59.000 --> 0:32:01.880 time that kind of evolved into its current use. 0:32:01.960 --> 0:32:03.320 People think maybe it's to like. 0:32:03.360 --> 0:32:07.840 A digestion of difficult ideas interesting. 0:32:08.360 --> 0:32:09.040 I don't know. 0:32:09.200 --> 0:32:12.320 I don't know if that's I feel like some of 0:32:12.360 --> 0:32:15.960 the salt lore is kind of like whatever you want 0:32:16.000 --> 0:32:18.880 it to be, right, and so that's what I want 0:32:18.880 --> 0:32:19.200 it to be. 0:32:19.280 --> 0:32:21.880 But I like that because I feel like otherwise, when 0:32:21.880 --> 0:32:24.080 you think about it, you're like, why does this phrase 0:32:24.120 --> 0:32:25.840 not seem to fit with the rest of the salt 0:32:25.840 --> 0:32:29.400 phrases right to the grain of the yeah aah yeah, 0:32:29.440 --> 0:32:31.400 because it's like, oh, I'm not I don't really believe that, 0:32:31.520 --> 0:32:33.040 so like take it with a grain of salt. So 0:32:33.080 --> 0:32:36.280 it's like, if it's more to age your digestion, di 0:32:36.760 --> 0:32:39.080 of this difficult idea, Yeah, let's go with it. 0:32:39.280 --> 0:32:43.200 We'll go with it. Rubbing salt in the wound, for instance. 0:32:43.240 --> 0:32:45.480 That goes back to the days when salt was sometimes 0:32:45.720 --> 0:32:50.280 used as a not very effective and extremely painful antiseptic. 0:32:50.520 --> 0:32:53.600 So it would be like, apply some salt to that wound. Yeah. 0:32:53.960 --> 0:32:58.480 Yeah. Back to the salt mines, meaning having to return 0:32:58.560 --> 0:33:03.080 to grueling or unpleasant work. That phrase originated in the 0:33:03.120 --> 0:33:06.480 seventeen hundreds and eighteen hundreds in Russia, when prisoners were 0:33:06.480 --> 0:33:09.520 often sent to Siberia to work in the salt mines. 0:33:10.400 --> 0:33:13.680 But I mean salt mines were intense places. So here's 0:33:13.680 --> 0:33:18.840 a quote from fifteen fifty five about salt mines in Poland. Quote, 0:33:19.280 --> 0:33:22.360 there are mountains in which the salt goes down very deep. 0:33:22.920 --> 0:33:25.880 Here on the fifth of January fifteen twenty eight, I 0:33:26.000 --> 0:33:29.280 climbed down fifty ladders in order to see for myself, 0:33:29.800 --> 0:33:33.760 and there in the depths observed workers naked because of 0:33:33.800 --> 0:33:37.160 the heat, using iron tools to dig out a most 0:33:37.320 --> 0:33:41.520 valuable horde of salt from these inexhaustible mines as if 0:33:41.520 --> 0:33:47.360 it had been gold and silver end quote. Yeah, down 0:33:47.400 --> 0:33:50.280 there you're so high or naked, yeah, and you're having 0:33:50.360 --> 0:33:53.160 to chip away salt like brutal. Yeah. So these were 0:33:54.240 --> 0:33:57.760 deeply unpleasant places to work, I would imagine, and often, 0:33:57.960 --> 0:34:00.920 you know, the ones who were working there were prisoners 0:34:01.000 --> 0:34:05.760 or enslaved. People were forced to work there as punishment. Okay, 0:34:05.760 --> 0:34:09.160 So generally speaking, there are two main sources of salt 0:34:09.200 --> 0:34:12.560 for easy extraction, salt that's been dissolved in water like 0:34:12.640 --> 0:34:16.279 seawater or salty springs, and then there's rock salt, which 0:34:16.320 --> 0:34:19.360 exists kind of like from that quote and deposits underground. 0:34:20.080 --> 0:34:22.600 You can get rock salt out of the earth by mining, 0:34:22.680 --> 0:34:24.879 and you can get salt out of water by either 0:34:25.080 --> 0:34:28.880 boiling off the water leaving salt crystals behind, which used 0:34:29.000 --> 0:34:33.279 a tremendous amount of fuel. Forests had been devastated in 0:34:33.320 --> 0:34:37.520 this process. Imagine like you can't you know, just to. 0:34:37.520 --> 0:34:39.880 Get fuel to burn for to make salt. 0:34:40.040 --> 0:34:44.040 Yeah, I mean. And also it wasn't like the getting 0:34:44.040 --> 0:34:47.480 salt was the only reason for devastation of forests, but 0:34:47.600 --> 0:34:51.640 like it helps be contributed yeah, yeah, or there's evaporation, 0:34:52.040 --> 0:34:54.120 which has the same end result, it just takes a 0:34:54.120 --> 0:34:59.160 whole lot longer and requires certain circumstances. Right, And that 0:34:59.320 --> 0:35:03.280 is literally the most like surface level explanation of salt production. 0:35:03.400 --> 0:35:06.680 And that's all I'm going to give you fair I have. Though, 0:35:06.719 --> 0:35:09.920 Actually it's so funny, like some of the memories that emerge, 0:35:09.960 --> 0:35:11.279 Like I was like, oh my gosh, I've been to 0:35:11.320 --> 0:35:14.600 the salt festival, and I've been to a salt extraction site, 0:35:14.800 --> 0:35:18.120 historical one in Peru at the salt mines of Maras, 0:35:18.600 --> 0:35:21.359 and it's like, yeah, it goes back hundreds of years 0:35:21.360 --> 0:35:24.479 at least, and it was really fascinating to see these 0:35:24.520 --> 0:35:28.840 like tears of salt wells all fed by like a 0:35:28.880 --> 0:35:31.840 salty underground spring. And then there's like they're harvested. I 0:35:31.880 --> 0:35:33.920 had for a while, like a little baggy of salt 0:35:34.480 --> 0:35:36.880 from Did you eat it? I did at some point, 0:35:36.880 --> 0:35:38.319 and then I don't know what happened to it. I 0:35:38.360 --> 0:35:41.040 lost it in the move, like one of my thousands 0:35:41.040 --> 0:35:45.759 of moves. Yeah, and then there are also there are 0:35:45.800 --> 0:35:49.040 lots of other steps and aspects to the extraction or 0:35:49.080 --> 0:35:51.920 production of salt, you know, things like purification, the different 0:35:51.960 --> 0:35:55.160 types of salt the origins. Some are more prize than others, 0:35:55.200 --> 0:35:57.799 some are considered crude or adulterated, or. 0:35:57.760 --> 0:35:59.240 Like just gross. 0:36:00.320 --> 0:36:03.600 Salt production was so central to some towns and cities 0:36:03.640 --> 0:36:06.840 that they took their name from the presence of salt mines. 0:36:07.560 --> 0:36:15.200 Salzburg in Austria meaning roughly salt settlement, salt Coats in Scotland, 0:36:15.360 --> 0:36:19.920 Saltville in Virginia, Hall and Germany. Many towns in England 0:36:20.160 --> 0:36:26.640 ending with which like Middlewich, Northwich, Sandwich, salt like which 0:36:26.840 --> 0:36:30.160 is often which is from what I could tell, which 0:36:30.200 --> 0:36:34.360 is often tied to like the like artisan production like 0:36:34.360 --> 0:36:36.560 there were like goods that were made there. But a 0:36:36.600 --> 0:36:40.000 lot of witch's towns that end in which are were 0:36:40.040 --> 0:36:40.920 like salt towns. 0:36:41.000 --> 0:36:42.640 They were salt towns. Interesting. 0:36:43.880 --> 0:36:48.200 Salt production was extremely profitable, as was its transport. In 0:36:48.320 --> 0:36:51.799 two thousand BCE, the Chinese government became the first to 0:36:51.840 --> 0:36:55.400 basically create a salt monopoly and to use it to 0:36:55.440 --> 0:37:00.120 become extremely prosperous, putting taxes on both domestically produced as 0:37:00.160 --> 0:37:03.399 well as imported salt. And it would be like I mean, 0:37:03.400 --> 0:37:06.120 it would be we can make salt for this amount, 0:37:06.239 --> 0:37:08.520 We'll charge ten times that like that kind of thing, 0:37:09.680 --> 0:37:13.040 and thousands of years later, Venice did the same thing, 0:37:13.520 --> 0:37:16.640 first as a producer of salt and then by controlling 0:37:16.719 --> 0:37:20.480 commerce and supplying it to much of southern Europe. The 0:37:20.560 --> 0:37:25.080 Venetians themselves described salt as quote unquote the true foundation 0:37:25.280 --> 0:37:25.880 of our state. 0:37:26.840 --> 0:37:29.440 Okay, right, It was like salt. 0:37:29.360 --> 0:37:33.879 Made Venice in many ways. And while salt could make 0:37:33.960 --> 0:37:38.080 a region prosperous like Venice, in other cases such strict 0:37:38.120 --> 0:37:43.560 control over the stuff could lead to unrest. France had 0:37:43.719 --> 0:37:49.479 long had a salt tax since the thirteenth century, and man, 0:37:49.680 --> 0:37:53.439 people hated this tax. First of all, it was really 0:37:53.520 --> 0:37:56.440 unevenly applied and this like there could probably be a 0:37:56.480 --> 0:38:00.000 textbook written about this salt tax. But it was really 0:38:00.200 --> 0:38:04.760 unevenly applied, and so some regions were exempt while others weren't. Second, 0:38:04.800 --> 0:38:06.760 it was kind of a flat tax, so that people 0:38:06.800 --> 0:38:09.640 were forced to maybe buy a certain amount of salt 0:38:09.719 --> 0:38:11.759 even if they didn't need all of it, and pay 0:38:11.800 --> 0:38:13.319 taxes on it regardless of. 0:38:13.280 --> 0:38:14.600 How much they made. 0:38:15.040 --> 0:38:18.000 And so it was kind of this like unfair tax 0:38:18.080 --> 0:38:21.440 because everyone had to pay a certain amount, Okay, if 0:38:21.480 --> 0:38:27.080 that makes sense. Yeah, and salt was really expensive, so 0:38:27.320 --> 0:38:29.640 like the when people had to buy that, you know, 0:38:29.719 --> 0:38:32.960 the amount of that set amount of salt were required 0:38:33.000 --> 0:38:36.000 to that would be about one eighth of a peasant's 0:38:36.160 --> 0:38:42.520 yearly income. And it was like locally very expensive or 0:38:42.560 --> 0:38:44.960 like within France, so it was that was ten times 0:38:45.000 --> 0:38:48.759 more than a cost just across the border. And so 0:38:49.160 --> 0:38:51.120 salt smuggling became a huge thing. 0:38:51.560 --> 0:38:53.040 Sounds like healthcare in the US. 0:38:53.160 --> 0:38:59.479 Sorry, yeah, yeah, yeah, yep. And so yeah, people would 0:38:59.480 --> 0:39:02.200 go across border and smuggle salt back because they're like, 0:39:02.200 --> 0:39:04.920 I don't want to buy salt here, it's way too expensive. 0:39:05.480 --> 0:39:09.120 And then there were like designated salt police who had 0:39:09.120 --> 0:39:11.760 the right to enter houses to search for smuggled salt 0:39:11.840 --> 0:39:13.320 based on their own suspicion. 0:39:13.880 --> 0:39:15.719 Entire salt police. 0:39:16.000 --> 0:39:18.360 I mean, they probably did more. 0:39:18.200 --> 0:39:20.800 Things, but I imagine that all they did was salt. 0:39:21.000 --> 0:39:22.080 Same same. 0:39:22.480 --> 0:39:22.719 Yeah. 0:39:22.840 --> 0:39:24.880 Again, there is like so much more to the salt 0:39:25.480 --> 0:39:31.080 to salt tax, but it like it's so intense that 0:39:31.680 --> 0:39:35.040 the Catholic Church even sided with the French government, adding 0:39:35.080 --> 0:39:38.239 a treatise in sixteen seventy four that stated, quote for 0:39:38.320 --> 0:39:44.840 all Christians, smuggling of salt is a mortal sin id quote. 0:39:45.600 --> 0:39:49.760 It's ridiculous. If you were caught, it could mean death. 0:39:50.560 --> 0:39:55.040 Every year, thousands of people were arrested for salt smuggling 0:39:55.080 --> 0:39:57.360 and either put in the galleys, forced to do labor, 0:39:57.520 --> 0:39:58.400 or they were hanged. 0:40:00.760 --> 0:40:02.719 What isn't this ridiculous? 0:40:03.520 --> 0:40:07.040 Yeah, one paper I read estimated that the last year 0:40:07.120 --> 0:40:11.000 before the French Revolution, thirty five hundred citizens were sentenced 0:40:11.000 --> 0:40:17.720 to death or the galleys for salt smuggling and so salt. 0:40:17.920 --> 0:40:21.640 Because of all of this ridiculousness around salt, it became 0:40:21.680 --> 0:40:25.400 a symbol of the injustices of the government of the monarchy. 0:40:26.000 --> 0:40:28.680 And so it has been suggested that salt was a 0:40:28.719 --> 0:40:32.280 contributing factor to the uprising leading to the French Revolution. 0:40:33.239 --> 0:40:35.440 Wow, not just the cake thing. 0:40:35.760 --> 0:40:36.680 Not just the cake. 0:40:38.120 --> 0:40:41.560 Don't let them eat salt, don't let make the cake 0:40:41.960 --> 0:40:45.960 no salt? Yep, how interesting? 0:40:46.120 --> 0:40:50.160 Erin isn't that wild? And it's like probably aspects of 0:40:50.160 --> 0:40:52.719 that have been exaggerated, but that is what Like, I 0:40:52.800 --> 0:40:57.480 have citations for these myths, right, But that's not the 0:40:57.480 --> 0:41:02.360 only revolution where salt has featured prominently. The oppressive British 0:41:02.400 --> 0:41:05.440 tax and monopoly on salt in India led Gandhi to 0:41:05.560 --> 0:41:08.000 March to the Sea in nineteen thirty in an act 0:41:08.040 --> 0:41:11.399 of civil disobedience, and eventually this helped pave the way 0:41:11.480 --> 0:41:14.719 for Indian independence, ending British colonial rule. 0:41:15.600 --> 0:41:17.520 So you know, I love it. 0:41:17.760 --> 0:41:21.360 I mean, given all of this, it is really strange 0:41:21.440 --> 0:41:25.160 to think about this thing that we probably all take 0:41:25.239 --> 0:41:30.160 for granted. Salt has something that created empires and cited revolution, 0:41:30.680 --> 0:41:34.520 was integral in religious ceremonies, and held such important meaning 0:41:35.040 --> 0:41:38.919 for thousands of years. Salt was a big deal. From 0:41:38.960 --> 0:41:42.439 the time of its first widespread production five thousand years 0:41:42.480 --> 0:41:46.320 ago to the Industrial Revolution, salt was, if not king, 0:41:46.640 --> 0:41:50.200 at least one of the major players in shaping human history. 0:41:51.000 --> 0:41:54.040 And over that time salt intake went from not very 0:41:54.120 --> 0:41:57.520 much at all. This is worthy of a larger discussion, 0:41:57.560 --> 0:42:00.960 but one book estimated that our paleolithic ants sesters consumed 0:42:01.040 --> 0:42:04.839 less than one gram of salt per day. Today, what 0:42:04.960 --> 0:42:07.759 is it like eight and a half grams on average 0:42:07.800 --> 0:42:11.400 per day ten ten Okay, I saw eight and a 0:42:11.400 --> 0:42:17.480 half somewhere. But yeah, dietary or like nutritional epidemiology is 0:42:18.520 --> 0:42:21.880 a challenge. But we went from not very much to 0:42:22.480 --> 0:42:26.080 orders of magnitude more and as we added more and 0:42:26.160 --> 0:42:30.160 more salted foods to our diet. Our salt consumption skyrocketed 0:42:30.719 --> 0:42:33.400 some regions that ate a lot of salted fish, like 0:42:34.040 --> 0:42:37.879 people in Sweden in the sixteenth century, for example, our 0:42:38.040 --> 0:42:41.080 estimated can't this does not seem right to me, But 0:42:41.160 --> 0:42:44.480 I read it somewhere are estimated to have eaten around 0:42:44.520 --> 0:42:48.640 one hundred grams per day, so that it seems. 0:42:48.200 --> 0:42:49.399 It seems impossible. 0:42:49.520 --> 0:42:52.799 Like maybe maybe that's if you're looking at just the 0:42:52.840 --> 0:42:55.879 straight salted fish. But if the salt was rinsed off, 0:42:56.000 --> 0:42:57.960 or if the fish were soaked and so like, I 0:42:58.000 --> 0:43:00.920 can't it being. 0:43:01.280 --> 0:43:03.400 That would be so salty. 0:43:03.640 --> 0:43:06.680 I know it hurts my mouth thinking about it, like 0:43:06.880 --> 0:43:11.640 dry like salt about it. Yeah. But in the book Salt, 0:43:11.719 --> 0:43:15.160 Kurlansky says that Europeans in the sixteenth through the eighteenth 0:43:15.160 --> 0:43:18.399 centuries were taking in about forty to seventy grams per day. 0:43:19.040 --> 0:43:22.920 But I've also seen lower estimates around like eighteen grams. 0:43:22.960 --> 0:43:25.000 Okay, that's so interesting, Aaron, because I was going to 0:43:25.040 --> 0:43:27.360 ask you if if there were any espect because I 0:43:27.360 --> 0:43:30.480 couldn't find any estimates from like, you know, the last 0:43:30.520 --> 0:43:34.799 few hundred years. Oh, this is all just such good 0:43:34.840 --> 0:43:37.200 fodder for its fodder. 0:43:37.920 --> 0:43:40.440 Uh but this is Yeah, so if even if it's 0:43:40.480 --> 0:43:42.719 at the lower end of the estimate, like eighteen grams, 0:43:42.800 --> 0:43:46.279 let's say it's twenty grams, that's still double what the 0:43:46.360 --> 0:43:51.040 average American consumes today, which is actually, uh double. 0:43:50.760 --> 0:43:51.960 Than what is recommended. 0:43:52.480 --> 0:43:55.799 And so we are doing a lot better nowadays, Like 0:43:55.840 --> 0:43:57.680 even though we're told that we're not, we are doing 0:43:57.719 --> 0:43:59.719 a lot better now than we were a few hundred 0:43:59.800 --> 0:44:03.440 years go. Why did salt intake go down? It's not 0:44:03.520 --> 0:44:05.600 because of health concerns. 0:44:05.960 --> 0:44:07.920 Let me just get that out of the way. It 0:44:08.040 --> 0:44:13.680 was because of refrigeration. Oh, that totally makes sense, right, 0:44:14.239 --> 0:44:17.759 It blew my mind. Yeah, so everything was way way 0:44:17.840 --> 0:44:18.920 so okay, there. 0:44:18.840 --> 0:44:21.239 Was let me just yeah recap us. 0:44:21.480 --> 0:44:24.920 So back in the day, like when we humans evolved 0:44:24.920 --> 0:44:28.759 into humans and started doing agriculture and all of that, 0:44:29.360 --> 0:44:33.680 initially we were consuming a minimal amount of salt. We 0:44:33.680 --> 0:44:36.560 weren't adding salt to our things. We were getting salt 0:44:36.680 --> 0:44:41.640 just from the places, like animals and salt if it 0:44:41.719 --> 0:44:42.640 was there, et cetera. 0:44:42.920 --> 0:44:45.640 For most of human history, we consumed very little salt, 0:44:45.719 --> 0:44:46.360 is what it seems. 0:44:46.440 --> 0:44:50.960 Yeah, then we figured out whoa, you can use salt 0:44:51.040 --> 0:44:53.520 to make things last a lot longer. So we started 0:44:53.560 --> 0:44:57.600 eating crep tons of it, tons of it, so an 0:44:57.760 --> 0:45:03.560 unbelievable amount. Then we invented the refrigerator, and we're like, cool, 0:45:03.600 --> 0:45:07.759 we don't need as much salt. There you think, there 0:45:07.760 --> 0:45:11.080 you go, and now we are today, and now we are. 0:45:11.000 --> 0:45:13.319 Here today, it's still eating salt because salt tastes good. 0:45:13.360 --> 0:45:15.719 I mean, that's like, that's the other thing is that like, 0:45:15.760 --> 0:45:17.120 and I know that you're going to get a little 0:45:17.160 --> 0:45:20.759 bit into the sort of the evolution the salt cravings 0:45:20.800 --> 0:45:24.520 and stuff like that, but there's a difference between tasting 0:45:24.600 --> 0:45:29.040 good and like needing salt for cocked but it is. 0:45:29.160 --> 0:45:32.719 It seems like it has been suggested that because that 0:45:32.840 --> 0:45:35.879 we think of salt like taste, salt tastes good to us. 0:45:36.520 --> 0:45:40.319 That's an adaptive trait because we would have needed more 0:45:40.360 --> 0:45:42.760 salt historically, I think, or we would have been maybe 0:45:42.840 --> 0:45:43.840 more on the. 0:45:44.600 --> 0:45:48.120 Edge and the tenuousness of it because we are omnivores, 0:45:48.120 --> 0:45:50.719 whereas like carnivores don't really have salt. We will talk 0:45:50.760 --> 0:45:54.640 more about it next week, but yeah, it's a there 0:45:54.640 --> 0:45:57.160 are reasons why salt tastes so good to yus. 0:45:57.600 --> 0:46:01.640 Yeah, and there are reasons also, I mean, there are 0:46:01.680 --> 0:46:05.040 reasons that salt tastes good and so therefore removing salt 0:46:05.080 --> 0:46:07.359 from foods, even though it's better for our health, makes 0:46:07.400 --> 0:46:09.759 people not want to eat those foods, which means that 0:46:10.040 --> 0:46:13.320 the salt industry doesn't want us doesn't want to remove 0:46:13.360 --> 0:46:15.960 the salt from foods. Anyway, we'll get to that next 0:46:16.040 --> 0:46:19.960 week too. But also I'm just putting in a plug 0:46:20.000 --> 0:46:22.239 now for a book Club episode that's coming out later 0:46:22.280 --> 0:46:24.600 this season, all about the history of refrigeration. 0:46:24.760 --> 0:46:26.160 It is fascinating. 0:46:26.239 --> 0:46:29.560 It's called Frostbite by Nicolotwilly and so stay tuned for that. 0:46:30.239 --> 0:46:32.840 But yeah, it wasn't just refrigeration. There was also canning. 0:46:32.960 --> 0:46:35.960 So there were just alternatives to salt when it came 0:46:36.000 --> 0:46:40.640 to long term storage or transport renovation. Yeah, at the 0:46:40.680 --> 0:46:45.239 same time, the industrial revolution had made salt extraction much 0:46:45.280 --> 0:46:48.840 simpler using updated technologies and fuel, and so you have 0:46:48.920 --> 0:46:52.239 the simultaneous like drop and demand just as it had 0:46:52.280 --> 0:46:55.680 become easier to produce. So that explains in part why 0:46:55.719 --> 0:46:59.200 it's so cheap today. I mean, this was quite the 0:46:59.239 --> 0:47:02.120 fall from grace for salt to go from this like 0:47:02.360 --> 0:47:07.160 esteemed substance without which civilized life is not possible or whatever. 0:47:07.360 --> 0:47:11.279 Pliny said to We don't need you anymore. You're not 0:47:11.360 --> 0:47:12.000 welcome here. 0:47:12.120 --> 0:47:13.000 Maybe bad for. 0:47:13.040 --> 0:47:17.520 Me, Yeah, it's kind of hurt. That's like, that's quite 0:47:17.560 --> 0:47:18.359 a transformation. 0:47:18.760 --> 0:47:22.919 Salt is just like, oh. 0:47:21.360 --> 0:47:23.640 And then the death blow is about to come. Things 0:47:23.640 --> 0:47:26.640 were about to get a whole lot worse for NaCl. 0:47:27.239 --> 0:47:31.360 The salt Wars were about to begin. Tell me, yeah, 0:47:31.600 --> 0:47:33.200 I mean this is what you're gonna tell me about. 0:47:33.920 --> 0:47:37.040 Oh I thought it wasn't real war. 0:47:37.719 --> 0:47:39.759 No, no, no, no, I mean it's just like. I 0:47:39.800 --> 0:47:42.319 also don't know if it's just for the early part 0:47:42.360 --> 0:47:45.759 of the debate about salt or like, also if salt 0:47:45.760 --> 0:47:48.400 wars can be applied to the discussions that have been 0:47:48.400 --> 0:47:51.799 happening over the last few decades. But anyway, I'll tell you. 0:47:52.560 --> 0:47:56.360 In the late eighteen hundreds, when salt consumption began to decline, 0:47:56.560 --> 0:47:59.440 salt had a very different reputation than it does today. 0:48:00.120 --> 0:48:04.040 Rather than being seen as a contributing factor to cardiovascular disease, 0:48:04.160 --> 0:48:07.960 kidney disease, and other health issues, it was avoidance of 0:48:08.000 --> 0:48:08.960 salt that was thought to. 0:48:08.880 --> 0:48:11.640 Be bad for your health. Interesting what changed? 0:48:12.440 --> 0:48:15.840 It started with a trickle of papers suggesting that salt 0:48:16.120 --> 0:48:21.040 maybe wasn't as healthful as previously thought. In eighteen ninety nine, 0:48:21.080 --> 0:48:24.400 a couple of researchers put forth the idea that salt 0:48:24.600 --> 0:48:28.880 pulled water from your tissues, increasing plasma volume and water retention. 0:48:29.600 --> 0:48:32.759 And then a researcher named Atchard in nineteen oh one 0:48:32.880 --> 0:48:36.680 suggested that salt consumption led to the edema of Bright's disease, 0:48:36.800 --> 0:48:40.080 which is chronic inflammation of the kidneys, and possibly a 0:48:40.120 --> 0:48:43.120 whole host of other conditions. And then in nineteen oh 0:48:43.239 --> 0:48:49.479 four is kind of really when the salt, not really 0:48:49.480 --> 0:48:51.160 the tides began to turn, but it was like this 0:48:51.320 --> 0:48:55.360 was the sticking idea. Two French scientists Ambard and Boujard 0:48:55.440 --> 0:48:59.560 published their hypothesis that high salt intake led to hypertension 0:49:00.280 --> 0:49:03.560 nineteen oh four, and this kicked off what would become 0:49:03.600 --> 0:49:07.759 known as the salt wars. Side note, though these two 0:49:07.880 --> 0:49:11.160 scientists were not the first to suggest the salt blood 0:49:11.160 --> 0:49:16.120 pressure hypothesis or sodium blood pressure. In fact, several thousand 0:49:16.239 --> 0:49:21.480 years before, around twenty six hundred BCE, an ancient Chinese 0:49:21.520 --> 0:49:25.160 medical text warns of the relationship between salt and hypertension. 0:49:25.840 --> 0:49:28.320 Interesting quote, If. 0:49:28.200 --> 0:49:31.520 Too much salt is used in blood, the pulse hardens 0:49:32.680 --> 0:49:35.959 end quote. Isn't that fascinating? 0:49:36.280 --> 0:49:38.160 It is really fascinating. It was like someone said it 0:49:38.200 --> 0:49:40.919 way back when. But they're like, yeah, that's fine though, Yeah, 0:49:41.239 --> 0:49:44.880 we're all dying from infectious disease well before hypertension becomes 0:49:44.880 --> 0:49:45.360 a problem. 0:49:45.360 --> 0:49:47.399 I mean that's probably a big part of it too. 0:49:47.719 --> 0:49:51.319 They're like, well, just never got it, never caught up 0:49:51.360 --> 0:49:55.239 with you, right, Yeah, But thousands of years later, we're 0:49:55.280 --> 0:49:59.760 still fighting about this. Right after the paper by Ambard 0:49:59.760 --> 0:50:04.319 and other researchers attempted to replicate their findings. Essentially, what 0:50:04.520 --> 0:50:08.279 these two had done was feed six patients with hypertension 0:50:08.719 --> 0:50:11.719 varying amounts of salt and found that those who were 0:50:11.760 --> 0:50:14.960 on lower sodium diets had a reduction in blood pressure. 0:50:16.120 --> 0:50:19.319 But the replication part of this was tricky. There they 0:50:19.360 --> 0:50:22.279 often didn't include controls. The first study by Ambard and 0:50:22.280 --> 0:50:25.200 Bouchard did not. The results were not very clear cut 0:50:25.239 --> 0:50:27.160 and was like for some maybe it did something, for 0:50:27.239 --> 0:50:31.400 others it didn't, you know, And it didn't specifically implicate salt, 0:50:31.480 --> 0:50:34.800 and only salt in the blood pressure changes that they observed. 0:50:34.800 --> 0:50:36.920 Because it was like a whole dietary shift. So it 0:50:36.960 --> 0:50:38.560 was like, was it less salt or was it also 0:50:38.560 --> 0:50:41.000 that you're eating more rice? Or you know what I mean? 0:50:41.040 --> 0:50:43.040 Like, yeah, yeah, such a good question. 0:50:45.120 --> 0:50:48.560 Some scientists did observe a reduction in blood pressure with 0:50:48.640 --> 0:50:52.520 declining levels of sodium, while others saw no difference whatsoever, 0:50:52.960 --> 0:50:55.400 and so it was like kind of all over the place. 0:50:55.520 --> 0:51:00.279 By the mid twentieth century, the consensus was a weak one. Yeah, yes, 0:51:00.440 --> 0:51:03.640 low salt diets did seem to improve blood pressure, but 0:51:03.760 --> 0:51:06.919 only in a subset of people. Add on to this 0:51:07.080 --> 0:51:10.279 the fact that low salt diets are not tasty when 0:51:10.280 --> 0:51:13.200 you've been used to eating loads of salt, and people 0:51:13.239 --> 0:51:15.920 were not keen on the idea of limiting salt as 0:51:15.960 --> 0:51:19.160 a way to treat high blood pressure. But some researchers 0:51:19.239 --> 0:51:22.680 kept on looking because if salt reduction can be helpful, 0:51:22.800 --> 0:51:25.920 like how and why this could save lives? And so 0:51:26.000 --> 0:51:28.240 the second half of the twentieth century saw a ton 0:51:28.440 --> 0:51:32.239 of studies much more carefully designed, carried out on the 0:51:32.280 --> 0:51:36.160 relationship between sodium intake and hypertension, and as with their 0:51:36.160 --> 0:51:39.759 earlier research, the results were mixed and the message became complicated, 0:51:39.920 --> 0:51:44.319 not easily communicated within a headline, because whoever actually reads like. 0:51:44.280 --> 0:51:45.720 The body of text in an article. 0:51:46.640 --> 0:51:51.760 The nuance surrounding any aspect of nutrition and health is huge, 0:51:51.840 --> 0:51:55.160 and salt is no exception. There are industry groups like 0:51:55.200 --> 0:51:58.440 the Salt Institute also through their hat and their consultants, 0:51:58.440 --> 0:52:02.400 sometimes physicians or academic into the mix, which further muddied 0:52:02.400 --> 0:52:05.520 the waters. And after years of back and forth and 0:52:05.680 --> 0:52:10.239 well technically and commentaries on articles and replies to those commentaries, 0:52:10.719 --> 0:52:14.520 it seems that we now have maybe a clearer picture 0:52:15.080 --> 0:52:17.160 on the relationship between sodium and hypertension. 0:52:17.640 --> 0:52:18.040 Maybe not. 0:52:18.320 --> 0:52:20.240 I'll let you tell us next week. 0:52:20.560 --> 0:52:25.839 Okay, I can't wait too. That was such a good setup, Aaron. Oh, 0:52:25.880 --> 0:52:33.359 thank you, thank you, thank you, Salt salts. Yeah, I 0:52:33.400 --> 0:52:38.359 am thrilled to keep going with this me too, because yeah, 0:52:38.360 --> 0:52:40.000 that was just such a good way to set up, 0:52:40.080 --> 0:52:47.600 especially this idea that like thousands of years ago, we 0:52:47.600 --> 0:52:52.920 were consuming minimal salt many thousands of years ago. Yes, 0:52:53.440 --> 0:52:57.160 then for potentially thousands of years we were consuming so 0:52:57.360 --> 0:53:01.080 much salt. And now where are we at today? I 0:53:01.120 --> 0:53:03.359 can't wait to say are we Oh? 0:53:03.360 --> 0:53:07.439 It's so exciting and there is like this was. There 0:53:07.480 --> 0:53:09.439 is so much to the history of salt. You could 0:53:09.800 --> 0:53:13.960 read whole books on recipes with salt. I mean there 0:53:14.200 --> 0:53:18.680 really that the Kurlansky Salt Book just is mostly recipes 0:53:18.719 --> 0:53:21.840 that I feel like is what it ended up being. 0:53:23.320 --> 0:53:27.400 It's it's a really interesting I just love the history 0:53:27.400 --> 0:53:29.640 of food too, I think, is what I'm realizing. 0:53:30.040 --> 0:53:31.719 Yeah, but yeah. 0:53:31.520 --> 0:53:34.000 But if you would like to learn more about salt, 0:53:34.000 --> 0:53:37.759 I've got some sources for you. So I don't know 0:53:37.800 --> 0:53:41.319 if I would give the Salt Book a resounding recommendation. 0:53:41.400 --> 0:53:45.960 I actually found it like not very well organized and 0:53:46.080 --> 0:53:48.200 so a little bit disappointing in that regard. But there 0:53:48.200 --> 0:53:52.080 are lots of other papers about salt. There was one 0:53:52.120 --> 0:53:54.760 by I think it was called bo Cirillo from nineteen 0:53:54.800 --> 0:53:58.160 ninety four, a History of Salt block from nineteen seventy 0:53:58.200 --> 0:54:01.400 six Salt in Human History there, and then if you 0:54:01.400 --> 0:54:03.560 want to learn about the origins of the Salt Wars, 0:54:03.719 --> 0:54:07.200 there's one by de nicol Antonio and O'Keefe from twenty 0:54:07.239 --> 0:54:10.400 seventeen called the History of the Salt Wars, and just 0:54:10.920 --> 0:54:13.680 a whole bunch more that I will post on the 0:54:13.719 --> 0:54:19.680 website this podcast. Yeah, yeah, thank you to Bloodmobile for 0:54:19.680 --> 0:54:22.560 providing the music for this episode and all of our episodes. 0:54:22.840 --> 0:54:26.880 Thank you to Leanna and Tom and Brent and Pete 0:54:27.040 --> 0:54:30.560 and Jessica and everyone else I'd exactly right Network for 0:54:30.680 --> 0:54:31.800 making all this possible. 0:54:32.080 --> 0:54:35.320 Yeah, and thanks to you listeners for listening. 0:54:35.600 --> 0:54:37.880 Tell us what you think about salts. 0:54:37.920 --> 0:54:40.200 Do you have any fun salt facts to share? 0:54:40.560 --> 0:54:42.600 And make sure that you're subscribed so you don't miss 0:54:42.640 --> 0:54:45.440 next week's episode. Oh yeah, yeah, because that's where the 0:54:45.840 --> 0:54:48.200 meat of it really is. No, so this was meat, 0:54:48.480 --> 0:54:50.719 no salted meat, betam. 0:54:51.360 --> 0:54:54.160 This was the seasoning. Next week is the substance. 0:54:56.920 --> 0:54:59.640 And a special thank you also to our patrons. Thank 0:54:59.640 --> 0:55:01.719 you so so much for your support. It really does 0:55:01.840 --> 0:55:05.200 mean the world to us. Well, until next time, wash 0:55:05.239 --> 0:55:06.960 your hands, you filthy animals.