With a grain of salt!
Aylin Öney Tan
After the sweetest holiday when endless sweets and sweet delights are served, it is time to go on the savory side. Salt is undoubtedly essential for savory food. Moreover, salt is the basis of most food preservation methods, a vital ingredient to keep food for a long time, also pertaining the preserved food item a favorable flavor. In kitchens all over the world, salt acts as the key ingredient in curing meat and fish, making various kinds of cheeses, brining olives, pickling fruits and vegetables, or just drying vegetables. Again, in every geography, the salt used in these keeping methods varies according to the salt resources of that geography. Occasionally sea salt is used, at other times salts obtained from saline spring waters or lakes are used, and sometimes rock salts extracted from the deposits of salt caves deep in the mountains come into play. Salt has always been a value of strategic importance throughout history, not only because of the flavor it adds to the food on the table but also because of its ability to preserve these foods for a long time. But when it comes to the salt on our tables, do we know our salt well enough?
In Türkiye, people do not seem to care much about the type of salt they use on the table. In markets, we do not get much of a choice, whereas in countries like Japan, one can talk about as many as 200 varieties of salt obtained from the sea with age-old traditional methods. All over the world, there are diverse methods to obtain salt, plus there are ingenious means to give salt additional flavor, such as the Danish smoked sea salt, a legacy of Vikings, to Himalayan black salt Kala Namak, which defies the common perception that salt is white.
With this global diversity, let’s have a brief look at our salt sources in the past. I suspect that salt on our table used to be much more diverse than we think, given the fact there are so many places named Tuzla in this country, a name meaning salt mine or salt marsh. In the Ottoman Empire, salt was an important source of income for the state and was exported to Europe from the ports of Syria and Izmir. Saltworks were one of the most revenue source items in the Ottoman treasury and operated in many parts of the country. Since rivers, mines, lakes and seas were considered state property, the ownership of saltpans also belonged to the state. Therefore, the salt produced was considered the property of the state, however, salt producers were exempt from paying taxes to the state, and there were cases where small salt pans were given to individuals to carry on in salt production.
The state was in total control of the process of salt production. Every step from the opening of the saltpans to the production of salt was kept under meticulous scrutiny of the state. If the saltpans to be opened were determined to be efficient and profitable, the permit to produce salt would be allowed. Once the saltworks were opened, all operations from production to sales were strictly regulated. The regions to which saltpans could sell salt were determined, and sales outside of these were not permitted. The salt sales, transportation and storage of salt were also carried out within the framework of certain rules and the distribution of salt was carried out by merchants. They would bring the salt they bought from the saltworks to the capital Istanbul and deliver it to the Tuz Emini, the Salt Fiduciary. These officials ensured that the whole process was carried out in good order. The distribution of the salt brought to Istanbul was also carried out according to a certain order.
The sources of salt were numerous. The Adriatic coast had Avlonya and Delvine, there were various salt sources on the Anatolian coast of the Aegean Sea including certain big islands like Lesbos and Crete. Especially that of Çandarlı on the Aegean coast was important where salt harvesting is still continuing up to this date. Of course, there were inland salt sources, carving salt from salt caves, such as the one in Çankırı. This particular one is one of the most special salt varieties we still have, it has the clarity of crystal, so pure that one can see through a big chunk of salt crystal. Çankırı rock salt has also got a geographical appellation, just as another salt just south, in the province of Kırıkkale, where saline waters that come from the mountain is harvested in salt pans as if harvesting salt from seawater.
Such salt pans are quite common in Anatolia, the one in Erzincan province in the small village of Kömür near Kemah has been in operation for almost five centuries. The name is a bit confusing as “kömür” means coal in Turkish but this salt has no resemblance whatsoever with coal, it is not even blackish, on the contrary, bears the brightest white color. Once a local told me that when the salt of Kömür is being dried, it smells of wild violets. That I did not really feel at the end product but maybe one must opt for the semi-dried moist state to sense the violet-smelling salt, that must be a taste to experience.
Today most of the salt sold in market in Türkiye comes from Tuz Gölü (Salt Lake), in Konya but the reality is we have much more to explore when it comes to that grain of salt we put on our food, either crystal clear carved from a cave of sprung out of a mighty mountain smelling of violets!
