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Pass the Salt, Please! Essay

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Salt acts as a biologically, necessary nutrient for human growth and development. If human beings did not give a damn about salt’s importance, our world would be filled with bland food, filthy water, and deadly disease. History’s first written records of salt appeared in China, around 4,700 years B.C.E. Salt played a major role in ancient history, especially in Roman and Egyptian cultures. Citizens of Rome and Egypt commonly used salt as trade goods, currency for soldiers, religious offerings, and even used in the process of mummification. Modern day chemists found several important ways to use salt. People use sodium today for softening water for drinking, flavoring foods, and for treatment of various medical conditions. Humans and …show more content…

Sodium chloride plays a big role, not only in water, but in culinary use too. The culinary industry commonly uses salt to season dishes, decorate plates, and to preserve raw meats. Salt remains essential in food preparation, presentation, and preservation. Restaurants have strict policies regarding salt use due to the fact that some people must maintain a low-sodium diet. Some restaurants are even required to put food items that contain sodium on their menu. Salt will always be a valuable resource to the world.
“Vacuum Evaporation: Evaporated salt is extracted from underground deposits lying anywhere from 500 to 2,800 feet beneath the surface. Fresh water is forced down a shaft, which dissolves the salt inside the deposit. The saturated water, called brine, is pumped back up to the surface where the water is removed through a heat process in a vacuum evaporator. This process yields evaporated salt, the purest of all salts: almost 100% pure sodium chloride.” (Cargill, http://www.cargill.com/salt/about/howsaltismade/index.jsp) Vacuum evaporation continues to be the safest and most efficient form of making salt. Recycling plays an important part in this process. Purified water that evaporates from the heat process is pumped back out of the plant into a lake. This water can be reused to start the process over once finished. Once the salt completes the final stage, large bins are used to store it until workers

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