The process of digestion and metabolism is impossible without salt; the taste of many dishes without salt seems incomplete. An occupation so beloved by our grandmothers, like canning crispy cucumbers and spicy tomatoes, is also impossible without salt. Fortunately, salt deficiency is not expected in the world!
Instructions
Step 1
Previously, salt was mined by a pool or cage method, now it is also used, but completely mechanized. On the seashore in the fall, they arrange a small reservoir, which is filled with water through the moat. After a while, pebbles, sand and clay settle to the bottom, and water is allowed into the second reservoir. In the spring, it is the turn of the third pool, it receives water with a higher salt content than in the original batch. During this time, the water has had time to evaporate fairly. By the end of summer, when almost all the water has evaporated, a layer of salt appears on the surface. This salt was previously raked by hand and formed heaps of 10-15 meters high from it, then the salt, which had been washed with rain for some time, was loaded onto carts.
Step 2
Fortunately, this slave manual labor was replaced by mechanization. Although in some countries, such as Indonesia and India, manual salt extraction is still preserved, in the twenties the Soviet Union began to use salt miners, excavators and cutters, which significantly increased the volume of salt mined. In the Astrakhan region, on the border with Kazakhstan, the Baskunchak lake is located, its area is 106 square kilometers, it is covered in winter and early spring with a layer of 30% brine - brine.
Step 3
Now salt is mined on this lake using a combine - about 300 tons per hour! Previously, a mass equivalent to this was mined by 200 plowmen, and 120 loaders loaded it onto 300 camel carriages. The same salt mining harvester does both the initial washing and crushing of large pieces. Then the salt goes to the mills.
Step 4
Salt is extracted from the bowels of the earth by a mine method. For millions of years, salt has turned into a stone monolith here. But temperature and high pressure can change the structure of the salt, make it malleable - it expands when heated stronger than the surrounding rocks and begins to move upward. Some salt mountains rise to the surface of the earth, for example Khoja-Mumyn with a height of 900 meters, and Lake Baskunchak is located on the top of one of these salt domes. With the help of cutting machines or blasting, blocks of salt are chipped off from the salt mass, which are crushed here (in the mine) and rise outward.
Step 5
Our friend - "Extra" food salt is obtained by the vacuum method at salt-making factories. Fresh water is poured through the wells into the layer of salt that lies underground. The resulting strong brine is pumped out by pumps and purified, then sent to chambers with reduced pressure - vacuum. At a pressure below atmospheric pressure, the brine boils at a lower temperature and actively evaporates water. The salt in the form of small crystals precipitates, and it is separated from the remaining liquid by a centrifuge. This is how finely ground "Extra" salt turns out.
