Tuesday, February 14, 2012

Letters From The Barn: Salt

Letters From The Barn: Salt

What kind of salt do you use? I favor sea salt and also the big, coarse grains of kosher salt. I was in a little store the other day and they had this large, almost crystal shaped piece of salt complete with a grater. It was in a little gift package.

Now, this took me a moment to get used to. Salt as a gift? And, a twenty dollar gift at that? Still, it was pretty.

I mentioned this to a friend who told me she had, truly, a salt collection. She's been in the military and collected salt from all the other world. Apparently, salt from different areas of the world not only has different colors, it has different tastes as well.

I thought about this. At first I admit I thought it was stupid. Who would collect salt and why? Then I thought about it. Salt of the earth. Salt is the one spice most of the world uses. It was so important, people used to use it in place of money.

Why not collect salt? It's fairly cheap. And available most anywhere you go. And, if it comes in different colors, I suppose it could be like some women who collect different pairs of shoes.

Now, I don't know that I will actually create a salt collection like my friend, but I will be on the look out for local salts. It might be neat to get a variety of textures, tastes and colors at home in my cupboard. I know I'm more likely to do that then get a closet full of colorful shoes. How many different pairs of barn boots does a person need, after all?


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Meriwether O'Connor