Salt of the Earth

Here we go. It’s time for a salt blog. I separated my original entry into three separate blogs, since I was pretty sure no one but me would want to sit and read that much about salt all in one shake!! Salt is something that is part of our everyday vocabulary, even when we’re not referring to salt as food, although you can't really separate the foodiness of it.  For example:

“worth your salt”....."take it with a grain of salt"....."it's like rubbing salt into your wounds"....and of course, "salt of the earth"....

  Well, I looked up the expression “salt of the earth” (in Wikipedia) and it comes from the Bible,: the Sermon on the Mount, where Jesus said "Ye are the salt of the earth: but if the salt have lost his savour, werewith shall it be salted."  So let me extrapolate. Salt has so much value in itself, and we know "salt of the earth" has come to mean "good person", if you lose the salt, or goodness, well, you have to find it again. Life is worthless without salt :) That is what I wil take from that.  In common usage it can mean humble and unpretentious or another definition is a “person of admirable character”. Anyway, if you get to the end of this blog, I've lifted a page of other salty grains of info for you. I found this picture so I had to include it. Subtle, hmm? My religious philosophy on life comes from that truly inspiring and uplifting movie, Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure, and you know what's coming now: "Be excellent to each other".

Steve will say that adding salt makes food taste salty. Well, exactly. That’s the point. Think of the tastes our tongue can detect: acid, sweet, bitter, umami (haha, funny word, and we certainly had never heard of that one back in elementary school science), and of course SALT. Really though, I like my popcorn, and chips, and pretzels to be salty. Otherwise I just want things to taste
that little bit better that salt helps out with.

He means that adding salt makes things unpleasantly salty I guess, and yes, I agree that too much salt is not good. A little bit of salt enhances the flavour of your food, though. It’s true. Because I say so (and well, so do most chefs that I know of). A lot of foods are bland without it. And since it IS  a preservative too, if you add a little to your water for vegetables, whether boiling or steaming, it will help them retain their colour, so your broccoli doesn’t look like it’s in camouflage and going off to fight in a jungle somewhere. I mean, cooking it to death will still result in an unpleasant side dish, so try not to overcook. We all try to, but then our kids come up to us with a bloody nose or some other hypochondriachal injury or somethig else distracting, and we don’t get back to the poor old broccoli on time. I mean who’s kidding who, really, I hardly ever cook vegetables. That’s really because I prefer them raw though.

Salt does get a bad rap, and like most things, there is sometimes too much of a good thing. But certain starchy foods that are generally bland and gluey when there is no salt…..rice, pasta, egg whites, oatmeal, glue (just seeing if you’re still awake) definitely get a flavour boost when you do add salt. I really just mean even a half teaspoon of salt to the water makes a lot of difference.  Just ask yourself, is too much sodium the problem in your life? Maybe junk food and fast food are the problem, and well then you WILL end up with sodium issues. As one of the four major electrolytes our body needs to function, sodium can be found in trace amounts in almost every food though, fruit, vegetables, dairy, which surprised me a little, so a healthy diet includes all the sodium your body needs.

I have always loved salt. In fact, the name of the font for my blog and post title is called "Rock Salt". I have been known, (and this goes back to childhood), to lick my hand, dash some salt on it, then lick it off. And this is before I knew about tequila shots (obviously, the only alcohol I’d ever had in childhood was communion wine when we were Anglican. Not exactly nummy what with all the backwash and germs in there. Yeah, we know the minister wipes the cup, but seriously, ew). I’ve never actually done a tequila shot. I just go right for the margarita with a glass that has a nice rim of salt (if they’re doing it well). Not surprisingly, it’s my favourite cocktail. Someone actually gave me a margarita once that was SUGAR-rimmed….Did they go to the Bartender School for Morons? I’d say yes. By the way, Moxie’s makes really good margaritas, and even though you feel stupid saying, “Moxie-size that”, it is so worth it because then you get a BIG, GIANT MARGARITA with a BIG GLASS  with a BIG RIM with room for LOTS  OF SALT. 

I rarely lick salt off my hand anymore though. Very occasionally, and only once, rather than repeatedly. I know this behaviour makes most people look at me like there’s something wrong with me, which is why I only do it at home, but I just can’t help it. Sometimes I need salt, and it’s better than eating a whole bag of chips right? (Well, not really, but you know what I mean. Way less calories). Steve once said he was going to buy me a salt lick, but so far he has not made good on that promise. (I did get some lovely chunky paprika salt for Christmas from Steve, while my mum brought me FOUR types of salt from a major SCA event she attended last summer, called the Pennsic Wars. Now I can pick out some salt in advance, there are some great ones on her site).

Here is my current salt collection: PC Mediterranean sea salt in its own grinder; Aqua Gourmet Paprika Canadian Salt (Windsor table salt, used pretty exclusively for salting water; and the SCA salts by Auntie Arwen, bottom: Fine Himalayan Pink Salt, and Ravida Sicilian Sea salt (which has that slightly damp quality you want in a good sea salt) and on top is a really cool salt called Djibouti African Salt Pearls (petite) which are formed when bits of salt break off the salt pans and roll around. (Check out her cool site here: auntiearwenspices). As you can probably tell, food photography is not my gift. Fortunately, one of my closest friends is a very frequent dinner guest, fellow foodie, co-conspirator in recipe execution, and she will even perform those cooking tasks I most hate (grating cheese and peeling potatoes). She is a talented cook in her own right, and happens to be an amazing photographer. She is just an extremely talented artist, you can check out her work where she does all her own photography at theses websites in my "Awesome Links":Homecoming Midland, Beausoleil Trading Company, Wordstock Photography, and Book Bagz (her very newest and coolest product).

Anyway, here is a quick recap by somebody else that I found online, with a few extra little grains of information! (Salt of the Earth Q&A). And yes, stay tuned for two more blogs on salt.

Q. What is the meaning of 'salt of the earth'

A. It means thoroughly good types. The origin is the Bible, from Jesus' sermon of the Mount, quoted in St Matthew's gospel: 'Ye are the salt of the earth: but if the salt have lost his savour, werewith shall it be salted ' ( Translated as -You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again )
The Dictionary of Phrase and Fable says it suggests that the disciples should give the world an interesting flavour, and not that they were simply jolly good chaps. Super.
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Q. How is it used now
A. According to the Oxford Dictionary of Idioms, 'the salt of the earth' is now used to describe 'a person or persons of great kindness, reliability or honesty'. People like lollipop ladies and shepherds. This backs up another claim for the origin of the saying.
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Q. What's that
A. In the Moroccan city of Fez, the Jewish quarter (Mallah) is very old and was home to Jews who did a lot of salt mining. They were considered very useful to the community, and it is claimed that the expression 'salt of the earth' originated here.
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Q. So anything described as 'salt' is valuable
A. Yes. The Romans paid their soldiers an allowance of salt called a salarium - hence our word salary, and the phrases 'worth one's salt' and 'true to one's salt'. And if you 'salt a mine', you add valuable ore or something similar to make potential buyers think that they're getting something worthwhile.
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Q. Is it the same idea for 'salting an account'
A. Yes. That's when you put such a high value on something that you raise its market value. Of course, salt is traditionally a mark of social worth.
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Q. How does that work
A. To 'sit below the salt' means that someone has low social standing. It comes from an old custom of placing the family 'saler' (salt cellar) halfway down a long dining table. Those seated furthest away were the lowest rank. And people of distinction sat 'above the salt', near the head of the table.
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Q. Should all this be taken with a pinch of salt
A. This expression, from the Latin cum grano salis, means that there's a grain of truth in it. What Don't you trust us
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By Sheena MIller