ultimately from the rocks that erode into them It’s an essential nutrient, a chemical that our bodies can’t do without It’s the only natural source of one of our handful of basic tastes, and we therefore add it to most of our foods to fill out their flavor Salt is also a taste enhancer and taste modifier: it strengthens the impression of aromas that accompany it, and it suppresses the sensation of bitterness It’s one of the very few ingredients that we keep in pure form at the table, to be added to individual taste as we eat In addition to sauces and salads, somewhat bitter leaves dressed to make them more palatable, another food named for salt is sausage, one of the preparations in which salt is more than just a flavoring Thanks to its basic chemical nature, salt can alter other ingredients in useful ways Sodium chloride dissolves in water into separate single atoms that carry electrical charge — positively charged sodium ions and negatively charged chloride ions These atoms are smaller and more mobile than any molecule, and therefore readily penetrate our foods, where they react in useful ways with proteins and with plant cell walls And because a concentrated solution of any kind draws water out of living cells by osmosis — water in the less concentrated cell fluid moves out of the cell to relieve the imbalance — the presence of sufficient salt in a food discourages the growth of spoilage bacteria while allowing harmless flavor-producing (and salt-tolerant) bacteria to grow It thus preserves the food and improves it at the same time Salt is a remarkable ingredient No wonder that people from earliest times have found it indispensable, that it’s embedded in everyday words and sayings (salary, from the Roman practice of paying soldiers in salt; worth his salt; salt of the earth), and that it has been the occasion for governmental monopolies and taxes and popular revolts against them, from ... And because a concentrated solution of any kind draws water out of living cells by osmosis — water in the less concentrated cell fluid moves out of the cell to relieve the imbalance — the presence of sufficient salt in a food discourages the. ..chloride ions These atoms are smaller and more mobile than any molecule, and therefore readily penetrate our foods, where they react in useful ways with proteins and with plant cell walls And because a concentrated... sufficient salt in a food discourages the growth of spoilage bacteria while allowing harmless flavor-producing (and salt-tolerant) bacteria to grow It thus preserves the food and improves it at the same time