Why is ‘salt’ so important?

       No diet can be complete without a pinch of salt. Not only does this mineral make our food tasty, but it also helps in preserving them. A healthy person should have an adequate amount of salt in his body to avoid many diseases.

       These are snippets of information most of us already know. But how many are aware of the fact that salt was once considered a form of money? Or that many global routes were initially established for the trade of salt?

        The use of salt as a way of payment came from the obvious reason that it is something Man cannot live without. This made the substance as precious as gold in earlier days. Believe it or not, there were times when merchants paid salt to buy slaves and other essentials. In Abyssinia, slabs of rock salt or ‘amoles’ were used for trade exchange.

        The most recent example of salt money was seen in Ethiopia, where people in remote areas used salt bars up till the 20th century.

        Now, one can guess how important ‘salt’ is in the history of mankind. The very word ‘salary’ is derived from the Latin word ‘salarium’ which means salt money.