Ep. 122 Salt: How the Cheapest Thing at the Grocery Store Was Once Worth Its Weight In Gold
Update: 2025-07-20
Description
This week is all about the history of salt! Yes, salt. You've probably never given it much thought. It sits in a salt shaker on your kitchen counter, spice rack, or cabinet. You can buy a pound of it for 76 cents at Walmart right now. But, believe it or not, salt was once an extremely valuable commodity. Whole civilizations rose up over salt. Trade routes were established. People became very wealthy. Salt allowed for the preservation of food which allowed humans to travel over long distances. It has invaluable medicinal properties. And, at it's most basic level, salt keeps humans bodies alive. Salt has impacted human history arguably more than any other substance on Earth. Join me to learn how!
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Sources:
- Time Magazine "A Brief History of Salt"
- National Library of Medicine "A history of salt"
- Wikipedia "History of Salt"
- National Geographic "The Development of Agriculture"
- Antiquity Journal "The earliest salt production in the world..."
- History Cooperative "The History of Salt in Ancient Civilizations"
- University of Hawaii "Weird Science: Salt is Essential to Life"
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