Salt has been a culinary commodity throughout history, and for a good reason. Is there any ingredient in the world that seasons our vastly different diets more universally than a sprinkling of salt? In the times before refrigeration, salt meant that we could preserve foods for a long winter or have sustenance when we went went exploring distant corners of the globe. Egyptians used salt as part of religious offerings and it became a valuable trade item in the ancient world between the Phoenicians and their Mediterranean empire. The earliest record of salt was by the Chinese back around 2700 B.C., but salt was used long before the beginning of recorded history. Despite its long history with humans, it wasn’t until recently that ordinary people started to give the types of salt a second thought. Today, we have seemingly endless options of salt, each lending its own characteristics to a…