Salt: A World History

Kurlansky describes the small Mersey River, which flows for seventy miles between the “English midlands and the Irish Sea” (179). One end of the river terminates at Liverpool, which, after London, became England’s most important port. It would eventually be globally known as the hub from which Liverpool salt originated.

The Romans started saltworks along the east coast after reaching England, and taught the English how to evaporate brine in earthen pots. In the northwest forests, they found an area called Hellath that had been producing salt for centuries. The area known today as Wales had silver mines, which, when boiled down, left lead that could be used to make massive pots for boiling brine.

After Liverpool’s founding, it became a rival with the town of Chester, on the other side of the river Mersey. Henry VIII fell out of favor with the Church in 1533, but there were still penalties for eating meats that were forbidden during Lent. By that point, the government was as invested in the fish market as the Church was. Rather than let the government profit too greatly from fishing regulations, the Church began to sell permits to eat meat on fasting days.

Kurlansky next discusses the vague origins of butter. He finds its creation myth improbable, the story being “that it accidentally got churned in the animal skins of central Asian nomads” (186). Because butter spoils in the sun, it was better suited to the darker north. Southerners were often suspicious of butter, claiming that it caused leprosy, which was more prevalent in the north. Merchants occasionally sold rancid butter, but there were laws against this. A 1662 law in England specified that only fine grain salt could be used to preserve butter. Butter was forbidden on fasting days, but like meat, the affluent who could not go without butter could buy permits to eat it during Lent. The demand for butter was so high that early experiments in refrigeration began, in order to transport butter for longer distances.

Kurlansky writes that “[b]y the seventeenth century, the English had discovered that salted anchovies would melt into a sauce” (188). The English used this sauce like garum, and it became what is now known as ketchup. Ketchup, which would evolve into a tomato-based product, could not be made without large amounts of salt.

Agriculture was changing in England by the 18th century. Crops such as wheat and turnips were more bountiful with the advent of Jethro Tull’s 1701 seed drill, so farmers had more grain for their livestock, which could now eat year round, instead of needing to be raised and slaughtered seasonally. This lowered the dependency on salt, even though salt production continued to increase. However, the English were running out of trees, whose wood they used as fuel to perform the operations that produced salt. It became necessary to haul coal for long distances to fuel the fires. But between 1670 and 1693, rock salt mines were discovered. Cheshire brine boilers “lobbied Parliament for a bill banning the mining of rock salt,” (193), fearful that it would end their jobs. Rock salt was enough of a boon for the government to fund the building of canals that linked the saltworks with the Mersey.

England’s dependence on foreign salt—despite its own production, England had to import salt to meet demand—had worried Queen Elizabeth. Between 1713 and 1759, England would gain control of the “codfish grounds of North America, (199), but even with a wealth of cod, they did not have enough salt to preserve it. 

Kurlansky describes the reader of a map of North America as being confused by the lack of pattern to the paths winding through the country; he explains that “these trails were originally cut by animals looking for salt” (200). Animals get salt from licking any surface or object containing salt. The licking would cause deep holes, called salt licks, and “[v]illages were built at the licks” (200).

Kurlansky writes that “[i]n the seventh month of the year, the Aztecs observed ceremonies for Vixtociatl, who was banished to the saltwaters by her brothers, the rain gods, and thus she was the discoverer of salt, the inventor of salt making” (201). The Aztecs were not the only tribe with a salt god. Navajo, Hopi, and Zuni Indians all worshipped a salt god or goddess and had salt ceremonies.

Kurlansky describes America as being in a state of “constant warfare over salt” (203). Power came from the control of salt. On the North American continent, nearly all cities and hubs of commerce were built near salt sources. When Cortes came from Spain, “the Spanish took power by taking over the saltworks of the indigenous people they conquered” (204).

As early as 1000 B.C., the Mayan civilization was producing salt, but it was happening on the continent earlier than that. The Mayans used salt in rituals and in medicine. Like other civilizations in the book, the Mayans struggled to control the production of salt. When the Europeans arrived, the salt trade had broken down and the Mayans were in decline as a result. The arrival of the Europeans also increased demand for salt; they brought cattle that had to be fed, and needed more salt to cure meat. The Spanish could not find metals to mine on the Yucatan Peninsula, so to raise revenue, they instituted salt taxes.

The British first arrived in North America at Newfoundland, and next in the Caribbean. Having established these two centers in the north and south, they began importing Liverpool salt to sell in America. England allied with Portugal; they would protect Portuguese salt ships from the French, who kept raiding them, and the Portuguese would open up new trade routes for the English, including a passage to the Cape Verde Islands, where they could collect salt from the inland salt marshes. Once the English met with success, “the Dutch, the Swedish, and the Danes” (208) began looking for similar islands. Theft and the smuggling of salt became its own market, and there were few countries whose fleets did not participate. 

In 1660, the Dutch gave American colonists the right to build saltworks on Coney Island, a small island near New Amsterdam (now New York). By 1614, Captain John Smith had explored and charted the coast of New England. He understood that fishing was profitable and a good way to attract settlers. Claims about the riches of America had been overstated, to the point where some colonists arrived and then left soon after to return to England. Smith was determined to find reasons for colonists to stay: “Smith also understood the importance of salt to his dream of a British America” (215). By 1607, there were saltworks in Jamestown.

Settlers who arrived were able to fish, but did not know how to make salt to cure the fish. A salt adviser was sent from England, but found the New England climate unsuitable for typical European salt-making techniques: “Massachusetts, like Queen Elizabeth, encouraged salt making through the granting of monopolies to those who showed the skill to produce salt cheaply” (216). For instance, a man named John Jenny was given the sole right to produce salt in Plymouth for twenty-one years.

New Englanders used salt not just for salting fish but also for preserving animal hides to trade. They also used it on many foods, including salted beef, ham, and turnips. Demand was high, and domestic production was increasing. Then the British lowered the price of Liverpool salt and soon it was cheaper for the colonists to import salt than to produce it locally. But the Americans produced more cod, and other salted items, than the British could sell, leading to foreign trade between the American colonists and other nations, which was forbidden by the Crown, and “[b]y the early 1700s, Boston merchants did not feel that they needed England anymore” (219). However, they still depended on England for salt. England started imposing harsh taxes in order to curb what appeared to be the merchants’ growing desire for independence, and America began to rebel.

In the summer of 1775, the British enacted a naval blockade that caused a massive salt shortage, “not only for the fisheries, but for the soldiers, horses, and medical supplies of George Washington’s Continental army” (220). In 1776, General William Howe took control of British forces in America, determined to hold the colonies by force. After the naval blockade, colonists tried to continue producing salt, but could only use methods with small yields, as the British would destroy whatever saltworks they could find. Kurlansky writes that “[t]he Continental Congress passed several measures addressing the salt shortage” (221); one of these was to encourage each colony to make its own salt, and to offer financial incentives to salt importers and producers.

The first saltworks in Cape Cod—built in the town of Dennis, by John Sears—was a response to this incentive. He created a 10x10 vat in Sesuit Harbor and months later managed to produce thirty bushels of salt. He eventually added windmills to pump seawater, but the rebels still could not produce enough salt. America would win the war, but “a new nation was born with the bitter memory of what it meant to depend on others for salt” (223).