Salt

[Gina]

Ray said, salt and light don't argue or make noise.  haha!  It's true.

Well, Kat brought out a great topic about stars and the numbers of them and how many people have lived, and I think that is fascinating stuff!  I hope we can stay on topic here.  I was going to ask Kat to do a search about salt and what it does because she always finds the most fascinating facts and interesting things.

Matt 5:13 "You are the salt of the earth

I've heard here and there a little of what salt does.  It doesn't really add flavor to food at all.  But it does bring out flavors as well as bring them together, that is what one chef said. 

(I love salt by the way.)  I'm interested in the facts about salt.  Anybody have any other than those that Ray mentioned?
 

[Dave in Tenn]

Salt makes you thirsty too.

[Gina]

Thirsty for righteousness.  Great point! 

[Gina]

Salt of the earth

1. A person or group considered as embodying simplicity and moral integrity.

2. Archaic A person or group considered the best or most worthy part of society.

Source:  http://idioms.thefreedictionary.com/salt+of+the+earth

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Colossians 4:6 Let your speech be always with grace, seasoned with salt,

Luke 14:34  Salt is good, but if it loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? 

Hebrews 6:4-6  For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come, and then have fallen away, it is impossible to renew them again to repentance, since they again crucify to themselves the Son of God and put Him to open shame.

Mark 9:49-50 "For everyone will be salted with fire. "Salt is good; but if the salt becomes unsalty, with what will you make it salty again? Have salt in yourselves, and be at peace with one another."

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10.  Before Biblical Judaism ceased to exist, salt was mixed with animal sacrifices. This originated from Moses in Leviticus 2:13 which states: "Whatsoever sacrifice thou offerest, thou shalt season it with salt, neither shalt thou take away the salt of the covenant of thy God from thy sacrifice. In all thy oblations thou shalt offer salt." The salt was a symbol of wisdom and discretion.

12. It is the only family of rocks regularly eaten by humans.

Source:  http://listverse.com/2009/05/11/15-fascinating-facts-about-salt/


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If you say that someone is the salt of the ​earth, you ​mean that they are a very good and ​honest ​person.

Source:  http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/be-the-salt-of-the-earth


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Food without salt becomes insipid:

in·sip·id - adjective
lacking flavor.
"mugs of insipid coffee"
synonyms:   tasteless, flavorless, bland, weak, wishy-washy;
lacking vigor or interest.
"many artists continued to churn out insipid, shallow works"
synonyms:   unimaginative, uninspired, uninspiring, characterless, flat, uninteresting, lackluster, dull, drab, boring, dry, humdrum, ho-hum, monochrome, tedious, uneventful, run-of-the-mill, commonplace, pedestrian, trite, tired, hackneyed, stale, lame, wishy-washy, colorless, anemic, lifeless

[indianabob]

Hi Gina,

Gina said " food without salt becomes insipid"

I like salt too, but I have cultivated a taste for the natural foods of the vegetable and fruit variety. Apples, pears, oranges, bananas etc. Raw cabbage, lettuce, carrots, onions, radishes, taste good just as they are.
We use almost NO salt in our home.
I do occasionally eat potato chips that already have salt.

Of course I understand that many natural foods already have some sodium/potassium  chloride in them from the soil in which they grow.
-
As a young child my mom would give me raw potatoes to much upon as she was preparing supper. (could be dangerous today due to how they are grown)
For salad dressing one can use vinegar and oil with spices other than salt.
This is not to criticize salt users, just an interesting observation.

Morton's Salt "when it rains, it pours". Also contains Iodine to prevent goiter.

[Gina]

Everything in moderation, of course.  I prefer sea salt, personally, but that's me.  I heard table salt isn't all that good for you, but whatever you prefer.  I think it is better to be grateful for what God places before you, and that a thankful spirit with little does a body more good than an unthankful one with lots of good food.

Food without salt becomes insipid (dull, boring, tasteless, useless etc.) was quote but I was thinking of it in terms of us being the salt of the earth.  Ray was perty salty.  Jesus was perty salty. Paul was perty salty.  The others were too. :-)

Salt is also good preservative.  It's interesting that there is so much of it in the sea and the oceans, though, you know?  I buy reverse osmosis water because California puts fluoride in their municipal water supplies.  And RO takes out fluoride.  Anyway, I add sea salt to my water because RO takes out not just fluoride by every other mineral you can think of. 

Old people in New York City were dying in the heatwaves one year as I recall because they were on all kinds of high BP medications and because of that (High BP meds are diuretics) they didn't have enough water in their bodies to produce sweat to cool  and regulate their body temperatures, and so they overheated and died.  But again, everything in moderation.  As Ray said, salt is sprinkled on food not caked on it, much like it is in the earth -- there a salt mine here and there but the earth itself isn't doused in salt.

Salt also puts out fires.  Sodium chloride (salt) is one of the principle extinguishing ingredients in fire extinguishers.  I just learned that.  And I just learned that sodium is highly reactive.

[indianabob]

Hi Gina,

I think that we will find that most household dry chem. extinguishers contain Sodium Bicarbonate or Potassium Bicarbonate or Carbon dioxide gas.

common salt or Sodium Chloride compound is reserved for commercial applications based on class D combustible metal fires.

Correct; Sodium metal alone is highly reactive, household salt is not.        

[rick]

Hi Gina,

Good to see your back Gina, I agree about the sea salt thing, its all I use. 

God bless. 

[Gina]

Well, I don't know about that, Bob --  try putting some table salt up your nose or in your eyes or on a wound and see if you don't jump through your skin. :-)

[Gina]

Thanks, Rick!  Yeah, I love sea salt.  I use this celtic stuff that really wakes up the flavor of my food and the funny thing is, I use less of it than I would table salt.   

[indianabob]

Salt burns in a wound. Sea salt would too...??

Well yes you are correct, but that is temporary and it helps us to heal, but the pain is partly due to salt absorbing the moisture out of our skin/flesh and our nervous system telling us that a little goes a long way.

Also, I have used a prescribed salt solution spray up my nose to relieve symptoms of a head cold. A dilute solution by the way... (smile)

Well, I don't know about that, Bob --  try putting some table salt up your nose or in your eyes or on a wound and see if you don't jump through your skin. :-)

[octoberose]

We recently were on a road trip to Washington state and stopped by the Great Salt Lake. I took off my shoes and walked in it.  It's an amazing sight, and of course they mine the salt. Sea life in the lake  is very limited but does exist.
When I think of salt I think of flavor and preservation and healing. And of course in Jesus' day it was a precious commodity.

[Gina]

We recently were on a road trip to Washington state and stopped by the Great Salt Lake. I took off my shoes and walked in it.  It's an amazing sight, and of course they mine the salt. Sea life in the lake  is very limited but does exist.
When I think of salt I think of flavor and preservation and healing. And of course in Jesus' day it was a precious commodity.

Hi Octoberose,

Yes, the Great Salt Lake is amazing.  I've only driven past it decades ago also on road trip to Montana which took me through the State of Washington, beautiful state!  And I think of the same things re salt.  Why was it a precious commodity in Jesus' day?  I thought they used it to preserve the fish or something and that the dead sea was basically right there.  I read in one place that the Romans used it as payment or something and therefore that's where the word "salary" comes from, but then I looked at another site and they debunked that silly myth.  hehe   The things people say haha!!

[octoberose]

Well, I'm finding that "salary goes back to the Latin word that originally denoted a 'allowance given to a Roman soldier for buying salt'. This was 'Salarium, a derivative of salt. " So you may have understood it right in the first place- I'm going with that! "
 

[Gina]

Salt burns in a wound. Sea salt would too...??

Well yes you are correct, but that is temporary and it helps us to heal, but the pain is partly due to salt absorbing the moisture out of our skin/flesh and our nervous system telling us that a little goes a long way.

Also, I have used a prescribed salt solution spray up my nose to relieve symptoms of a head cold. A dilute solution by the way... (smile)

Well, I don't know about that, Bob --  try putting some table salt up your nose or in your eyes or on a wound and see if you don't jump through your skin. :-)

he he, iBob of course it has to be diluted in your nose.  Yes, even diluted sea salt stings like a mo-fro.  I learned that when I thought it would be wise to open my eyes underwater in the ocean....once and only once.  :-D 

[Gina]

Well, I'm finding that "salary goes back to the Latin word that originally denoted a 'allowance given to a Roman soldier for buying salt'. This was 'Salarium, a derivative of salt. " So you may have understood it right in the first place- I'm going with that! "

I guess I was thinking of Mark 15 - where someone was testing Jesus about paying taxes to Caesar (a Roman emperor) and Jesus asked for a denarius and said, Whose image is on this coin? 

Yes, I went to the ancient history encyclopedia and maybe I missed it but I didn't see anything in there about currency made of salt or anything like that being paid to Roman soldiers.  http://www.ancient.eu/Roman_Coinage/  Before the denarius (which I think was made from silver?) there was a bulky bronze currency and other things. 

But I have heard the expression worth their weight in salt (maybe I'm dreamin'). 

Every time I go to do a google search for "salarium," it comes back with "Did you mean:  solarium"    I don't know.  It's pretty interesting stuff though, that's for sure.

Nice to see you here, Octoberose.  I hope you're doing well and your family and everything's fine.

[Gina]

And I guess my other thought was if the soldiers were paid in salt, who were they going to trade it with being so close to the Dead Sea?  LOL  The street vendors would have been all like, What's this?!  I pack my fish in this stuff, Buddy!  Got loads of it right out there in the sea, for heaven's sake! Who you think you foolin'?

haha!

[indianabob]

Dead Sea salt is not the same as our table salt.
You could bathe in it but don't put it on your tomato salad.   
See attached.
Indiana Bob

Best Answer:  The Dead Sea waters contain salts of magnesium chloride (53%), potassium chloride (37%) and only 8% sodium chloride, which is normal table salt. Magnesium chloride and potassium chloride give the Dead Sea salt a bitter taste that makes it undesirable to consume, but not poisonous.

However, since raw sewage runs into the Dead Sea it probably is unsafe to drink. The salinity may kill most of the bacteria, but there are trace metals that are hazardous that are found in these waste waters. Agricultural chemicals are another problem.

Some Dead Sea salts are mined for 'therapeutic" uses, likely because some of the minerals in the salts are thought to be good for the skin.

[Gina]

Wow, interesting find, Bob.  Magnesium is really good for you.  Yes, I would imagine back in Jesus' day with all of the Jews' sanitary rules and regulations, there was no one letting raw sewage drain into the Dead Sea.

[Doug]

Check into Himalayan salt, it is simply amazing. Research Sole which is a concentrated form of the salt.