When salt was gold
You see, salt in ancient times was highly valued by the Greeks, Romans and other peoples. Greek slave traders often traded salt for slaves. Roman soldiers were paid "salt money" (SALARIUM ARGENTUM,) from which we take the English word "salary." Also, the word “salad” comes from the word “salt” because the Romans used to salt their leafy vegetables.
If you want to eat in winter, you need salt. If you want to sail the oceans, you need salt to season your meat. Before we invented refrigerators and freezers, and before we invented the canning process, some foods such as meat and fish had to be dried and packed with salt to prevent them from spoiling. In addition, salt was used in leather processing and in soap production.
In West Africa during the Medieval period, salt was traded for gold. This may seem amazing because salt is a cheap commodity in our society today, but in ancient life it was difficult to extract salt except from certain parts of the world, so salt-producing areas used it as a trade material. Valuable items that can be exchanged for gold.
Based on this, salt led to the development of trade routes and brought great wealth to the cities and countries that it passed through, especially in West Africa.
Salt has had many uses, although it is primarily associated with food today, as it was commonly used to make salty food in the past. Salt had an important culinary function of preserving food before the discovery of refrigeration, as meat and vegetables were salted so they could be preserved. Eat it later.
Source: websites