Salt has been used as a condiment in ancient China. "Shang Shu Shuo Ming" records: "If you want to make a soup, you can only use salt plums", which shows that in the Shang Dynasty, people already knew how to use salt as a condiment to prepare delicious soup. Furthermore, in "Shangshu Yu Gong", there is a record of Qingzhou's "Gonggong Salt Collection", that is, in the Xia Dynasty before the Shang Dynasty, salt was "tributed" to slave-owning countries. This salt was used for condiments and was extremely valuable and was handed over as tribute. Therefore, the earliest record of edible salt in China can be traced back to the Xia Dynasty. By the Zhou Dynasty, people had regarded salty taste as one of the "five flavors" (sour, bitter, pungent, salty, and sweet) and used it to treat diseases. There is a record of "using salt to nourish the pulse" in "Zhou Li Tianguan Zhongzai". This is a new understanding of the medical function of salt by the people of the Zhou Dynasty. At the end of the Warring States Period, Qin Prime Minister Lu Buwei gathered his disciples to compile "Lü's Spring and Autumn Annals", which stated that "the blending process must be based on sweet, sour, bitter, pungent, and salty. No matter how many are successive, the balance is very small, and they all have their own origins" and "salty does not decrease" 〔①a〕, this talks more specifically about the salty preparation method. Since then, people have paid more and more attention to the seasoning effect of salt. Wang Mang of the Han Dynasty called salt the "general of food" [②a], which further highlighted the role of salt in food and cooking.
When humans first began to consume salt, there are no historical records or archaeological data that can clearly explain. However, it is conceivable that, like the use of fire, the discovery and consumption of salt also experienced an extremely long time. When the ancient ancestors were in the ignorant era of "eating grass and trees, the meat of birds and beasts, drinking their blood, and chewing their hair" [③a], they did not yet know what salty taste was, nor what salt was. In later generations, people did not add salt to the broth used for sacrificial rituals, which was called "big soup without salt" [④a], to show their compliance with ancient rituals. Sima Qian also recorded this ancient ritual in "Historical Records·Book of Music": "The ritual of a great meal is to serve Xuan wine with fishy fish. If the soup is not harmonious, there will be a lingering smell." These records in the classics are all It can be regarded as evidence that the ancient ancestors did not know or understand salt. Therefore, it can be inferred that ancient ancestors did go through a long historical period when they did not know how to eat salt.
Human food culture begins with the tasting of all things. Of all the things nature has given to humans, which ones are edible and which ones are inedible are all gained through the accumulation of personal tastes. . In ancient Chinese mythology, there is a legend that Shennong tasted hundreds of herbs. I don’t think this is a baseless fabrication by the ancients. It was the countless bold tastes of ancient ancestors that built the ladder of progress in human food culture. Ancient ancestors randomly tasted sea water, salty lake water, salt rocks, salt soil, etc. countless times, and tasted the salty fragrance. They added naturally occurring salt to their food and found that some foods had a saltier taste than their original taste. If you want it to be fragrant, after trying it, you will gradually use salt as a seasoning.
With the passage of time, people are no longer satisfied with relying solely on the naturally occurring salt obtained from the gifts of nature, and have begun to explore the production of salt from sea water, salt lake water, salt rock, and salt soil. The largest reserve of salt on earth is sea water. The earliest records of salt production in China are records of sea salt production. According to ancient records, Susha, a prince during the reign of Emperor Yan (some say Shennong), was the first to use seawater to boil sea salt, which is the so-called "Susha as boiled salt" [①b]. It is uncertain whether there really was a Susha family in history, but it can be said that this prince was the incarnation of the wisdom of the ancient Chinese working people in boiling salt from sea water. In fact, boiling salt with seawater cannot be done by Susha alone. It is the ancient ancestors living by the sea who created the sea salt production process after long-term exploration and practice. In the absence of updated archaeological discoveries and classics that can prove it, "Susha making salt" can be regarded as the beginning of China's sea salt industry. Susha is the founder of China's sea salt industry.
The working people of ancient China have long explored the origin of salt, and had the foresight to believe that the formation of salt is closely related to water vapor: "Water is said to moisten the bottom, and moistening the bottom makes it salty." 〔②b〕. This is the conclusion drawn from long-term observations of lake salt formation. Lake salt is also called "pool salt". Inland salt lakes (pools) are affected by the dry climate and can naturally produce crystalline salt. The famous and oldest Hedong Salt Pond in Chinese history (also known as "Jiechi", located in the south of Yuncheng County and the northern foot of Zhongtiao Mountain in Shanxi Province today) uses the evaporation of wind and sun to naturally produce table salt. It is "Jieyan", "Luyan" or "Hedong salt". The earliest record of "Jiechi" can be found in "The Classic of Mountains and Seas Beishan Jing", which contains the sentence "Three hundred miles south, it is called Jingshan, looking south at the Salt Vendor's Lake". According to Guo Pu, a native of Jin Dynasty, the salt merchant's lake "is the salt pond".
〔③b〕The Chaerhan Salt Lake and Chaka Salt Lake in Qinghai Province are rich in this kind of pool salt. The Chaerhan Salt Lake covers an area of ??1,600 square kilometers and is the largest salt lake in my country. Pond salt has the characteristics of natural crystallization. "Luodu Fu" written by Wang Zhen of Jin Dynasty said: "The salt pond in Hedong is clean and fresh, and it can be fertilized without labor, and it becomes natural." This means that pool salt does not need to be cooked, it can be made naturally. "Jiechi" is located in the Yellow River Basin. It is conceivable that the ancient ancestors living in the Yellow River Basin would have been exposed to this natural pool salt very early.
Through the above research, it is difficult for us to determine which of the discovery and consumption of pool salt and sea salt came first, because sea salt can also be naturally crystallized due to evaporation from seawater stagnant in shoals, exposed to wind and sun, and evaporated. . Ancient ancestors living by the sea also discovered and consumed this natural sea salt produced by natural crystallization very early. In summary, naturally occurring pool salt and sea salt, as well as rock salt exposed on the surface, salt springs that naturally overflow and leak out, and soil salt available everywhere, as long as there are human activities in the areas where these natural salts are generated, ancient ancestors Sooner or later, people will discover, understand and consume these natural salts. However, due to the long history and very little available data, it is not easy to determine the sequence of its discovery and consumption. Of course, one thing is certain: sea salt was cooked after natural salt was discovered and consumed. Because boiling salt is an advanced production process, it must have certain cooking utensils, such as the "basin" used for boiling salt in the Han Dynasty. There is no way to verify the materials used to make such utensils and how to cook them. However, one thing can be determined: the discovery and consumption of naturally occurring sea salt, pool salt, rock salt, salt springs, soil salt, etc. is the beginning of human consumption of salt. This should be the same for all countries in the world.