It is difficult to imagine cooking without table salt. This mineral also has a more scientific name - halite. Such a stone has long been known to man and is widely used to give food a special taste. Table salt obtained from halite is actively involved in metabolic processes in the body.
Halite is the most common table salt that is commonly eaten. This valuable and useful mineral has been known since ancient times, so it would be incorrect to talk about who discovered it and when. The habit of consuming salt originated many millennia ago and was inherited by modern mankind from distant ancestors. Primitive man, perhaps, paid attention to the halite deposits, which were actively feasted on by forest animals.
Table salt has become not only an indispensable attribute in the preparation of a wide variety of everyday dishes, but is also widely and successfully used for preserving food.
Halite, which is widespread in nature, is not found everywhere. Usually deposits of this substance are concentrated in deposits. The concentration of halite in a certain area was a prerequisite for the competition between those who sought to control the territories rich in this natural resource. There was a period in the history of mankind when halite was highly valued, and sometimes it was even in short supply.
The source of halite is not only natural deposits. People have learned to extract this mineral from natural solutions. Table salt is found dissolved in the waters of the seas and oceans, salt lakes. It is characteristic that the ancient Greek term gallos, from which the name of the mineral originated, at one time meant not only salt, but also the sea. The very name "halite" was entrenched in science in the middle of the 19th century.
Ancient Greek historians have described several fairly simple ways to obtain salt for household needs. But only two centuries ago, scientists accurately established its chemical composition, described the crystal structure and characteristic properties. Over the past century and a half, the range of methods for extracting table salt and its subsequent processing, which increases the consumer properties of halite, has expanded.
The highest quality samples of halite are colorless, transparent and have the shape of regular crystals resembling a cube. If you look at the halite crystal from the side, you can see a characteristic reflection comparable to that of glass. However, sometimes the mineral can be pigmented. This is facilitated by small natural inclusions, which color the halite yellowish, gray or even brown.
Halite of a pinkish or bluish hue is less common. These colors are due to defects in the structure of the mineral.
One of the most valuable properties of halite is that it dissolves perfectly in water regardless of temperature. This feature distinguishes table salt from other similar compounds and allows halite to be separated from other salts during crystallization of the substance from natural brines. The characteristic salty taste, which does not have a bitter aftertaste, serves as a kind of indicator for mammals, signaling the presence of sodium chloride in food. This mineral is indispensable in the diet, since it performs an important function of regulating the salt balance in the body, without which the metabolism can be disrupted.
