Salt

This passage is about the history of salt.

Lexile Level: 370L

Categories: History Science & Technology

Salt is everywhere. It is in restaurants and kitchens. Little packets of salt come with fast food orders. In short, salt is very easy to find. And we use a lot of it! Salt was not always so common. Thousands of years ago it was precious. It was so precious that people were paid with it. The word 'salary' comes from the Latin word for salt. Ancient Phoenicians learned to harvest salt. They harvested it from seawater. That's when it became less valuable. But salt is still important. It is still used to preserve and flavor foods. Salts are found in many colors. They also have many tastes. The salt most commonly used is clear. It is known as sodium chloride.