Salt
By: Anonymous

About

Salt is an essential element of seasoning and preserving food and generally refers to the chemical sodium chloride. It is very frequently combined with black pepper as a flavoring base for recipes. Salt is used in the cuisines of all cultures and is required for human survival.
There are many different kinds of salt, here's a short list:
Iodized Table Salt,
Kosher Salt,
Sea Salt,
Picking Salt, 
As a preservative, salt extracts water from foods and bacteria, preventing spoilage.

Information
Other names: Sodium Chloride
Translations: Sāls, Druska, Sare, Sol, Sól, Zout, नमक, Sal, Соль, Αλάτι, ملح, 소금, Sůl, Garam, Asin, 盐, Sal, Soľ, Sale, מלח, Со, ソルト, Sel, Salz, Sal, Сіль, Suolaa, Сол


Selecting and Buying
Seasonality: january, february, march, april, may, june, july, august, september, opctober, november, december
Peak: january, february, march, april, may, june, july, august, september, opctober, november, december

Comments:
Anonymous

I was told by my mother who heard it from her mother etc. etc. that iodine is important to the body for fighting the bacteria in food and so it was put into table salt. What then created the salt wars in the 1700 and 1800's? Just for preserving? And why do we need salt to survive?
Bluestone

Iodine was added to salt in order to prevent iodine deficiency, a problem in areas of the world where iodine is not naturally present in sufficient quantities within the food supply.  I'm not sure about the exact reasons why iodine is essential, but I think at least one of them is that it is a constituent in hormones produced by the thyroid (e.g. triiodothyronine).  Wikipedia has some details about this at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_iodised_salt.
Bluestone

Iodine was added to salt in order to prevent iodine deficiency, a problem in areas of the world where iodine is not naturally present in sufficient quantities within the food supply.  I'm not sure about the exact reasons why iodine is essential, but I think at least one of them is that it is a constituent in hormones produced by the thyroid (e.g. triiodothyronine).  Wikipedia has some details about this at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_iodised_salt.
Anonymous

I was told by my mother who heard it from her mother etc. etc. that iodine is important to the body for fighting the bacteria in food and so it was put into table salt. What then created the salt wars in the 1700 and 1800's? Just for preserving? And why do we need salt to survive?