Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/599676
f a l l / w i n t e r 2 0 1 5 | 3 9 For the Love of Love of ight thousand years ago, people living in modern Romania were boiling spring water to extract salts. Herodotus, the father of history, describes salt's value in the fifth century obsid - ian trade in Greece; and in 800 BC, Hallstatt, in central Austria, was home to the world's first salt mine. Through thousands of years of human history, wars have been fought over salt and the precious mineral has been, literally, worth its weight in gold. Today, you'd be hard-pressed to find someone who doesn't toss a sprinkle over their left shoulder when an errant shaker topples over. With religious, political, and cultural roots connecting salt to nearly every civilization, it's no surprise that salt is a cornerstone in modern cooking, long after the ingredient was a necessary tool in the preservation of meats, helping intrepid explorers wing their way across vast, unknown seas, and ensuring hungry homesteaders had enough food to get through even the roughest Midwestern winters. A CHEF AND A SALT MASTER PRACTICE SEASONED PERFECTION BY RACHEL BURKONS PHOTOS BY LEAH NASH f a l l / w i n t e r 2 0 1 5 | 3 9