Taste and See by Margaret Feinberg

Author:Margaret Feinberg
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Zondervan
Published: 2018-12-03T16:00:00+00:00

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Table Discovery: Interested in new salts? Gray sea salt has a harsher flavor and works well with recipes that involve thyme, garlic, and cumin. Pair Himalayan salt with recipes that include rosemary, basil, and bay leaves.

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After the fall of the Roman Empire, salt continued to play an important role in military enterprise. Napoleon discovered its importance when thousands of his troops died from wounds that failed to heal because of the soldiers’ salt deficiencies. During the Civil War, a fierce battle ensued near Saltville, Virginia, because the Confederate army needed access to the salt reservoirs to sustain its troops.

Meanwhile, governments around the globe have imposed salt taxes that have enriched their coffers as well as dissolved their power. The French had to purchase their salt from royal depots during the reign of Louis XVI, and complaints about the cost of salt (along with bread) helped fuel the French Revolution. As recently as 1930, Mahatma Gandhi led a two-hundred-mile pilgrimage to collect untaxed salt for the poor of India.

I had no idea that something we’re told to cut back on today played such an important role in history. Luckily, Leif and I now live in the perfect place for a salty adventure.

WHEN YOU’RE CAUGHT BETWEEN A ROCK AND A HARD PLACE

Utah is a sodium lover’s dreamscape. Salt comes from evaporated dead seas or living ones, and you’ll find a variety of such geological wonders throughout the state. The most famous, the Great Salt Lake, sits less than an hour’s drive from our home. Utah even named its capital city after this body of water. But don’t mistakenly think you can bring your own shaker to fill up and take home from its shoreline. The salt taken from the lake isn’t FDA-approved for human consumption.

The state also boasts the Bonneville Salt Flats, a vast area that feels like the surface of the moon with thirty thousand acres of white expanse. An adorable girl donning a canary-yellow dress appears on the side of the Morton’s Salt plant located there. Most don’t realize that Morton’s salt is distinctly a modern product. The processed salt contains additional ingredients including calcium silicate for anticaking, dextrose or sugar, and potassium iodine to prevent goiter, a swelling in the neck.

While visits to both locations are fascinating (and highly recommended), I wanted to taste and see something closer to what Jesus and his disciples understood. Always craving salt and adventure, I found a place I could descend into an ancient seabed where salt seems frozen in time.

I drive 150 miles south to the Redmond Salt Mine and discover mountains of salt line the property like miniature Swiss Alps. Inside the main offices, I meet Neal, a late sixty-something with a youthful disposition despite his snowy hair. I’m curious how he became involved in the profession. He explains that after World War II, his father and uncle returned from the battlefield to work the family farm. But years of drought left them on the verge of bankruptcy.

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