Forever foods instead of Forever Chemicals done so far:
1 Vinegar
2 Honey
3 Chicos
4 Manoomin
5 DRY Posole.
And NOW....
6 SALT
Not a source of calories but it is extremely useful.
You don't even need to keep it dry to avoid rot, though if you set it out in the rain it will disappear so...not actively wet but don't worry about humidity or a bit of damp No temperature issues either. Can't over heat it or freeze it too much. If it was ground and turns into a block, you can regrind it.
It can be used to preserve other foods like meat, fish, lemons (salt preserved lemons are amazing) by packing the salt around the food in large quantities.
Salt is also excellent for fermenting foods. You can massage or pound it into the food as with sauerkraut or kimchi, or make a bring for cucumber pickles or gingered carrots. The salt keeps the bacteria balanced to allow lactobacilli types to dominate which ferments and actually ends up enhancing nutrients like vitamin C in the final product. Sauerkraut can be kept over a year if properly fermented with salt.
Salt makes a diet heavy on blander storage foods more palatable to many of us. I can now eat unsalted beans, hummus or lentil soup but a bit of salt does improve the flavor. I don't know if that preference is part of growing up in a salt-centric food culture or a natural preference. It doesn't really matter. At a minimum the option to salt or not adds the potential of varied tastes/flavors to a diet based on a few available base ingredients.
Salt also changes the texture of bread. I like the "over proofed" unsalted yeast and sourdough breads but others don't like their bread as stretchy and poofy. It also changes the crust. Again, I don't mind either way.
Mix salt with vinegar and you get a serious cleaning product. I've also used salt as a scalp scrub and found it quite nice. Course salt...not just big old rock. I was not rubbing my head on the salt lamp in the hippie crystal incense shop. But now that's I've described the scenario...it sounds hilarious so I might do that.
