The greatest rulers to ever preside over a table are color blind. Yet they color every taste. They are the spine, the illumination, the narrator, the judiciary and the jury to each taste on all buds. The directions on nearly every recipe in the endless library of recipes states it almost always even though it is a given: “salt and pepper to taste”. And we do.
The Chilean poet Pablo Neruda, wrote in “Ode to Salt”
I know you won’t believe me, but it sings, salt sings…
Dust of the sea, in you the tongue receives a kiss from ocean night…
in it, … we taste infinitude”
It may be startling to realize it but when we eat salt we are eating a rock. Salt is … to put it simply sodium chloride .. but not so simply in fact miraculously it happens when sodium, which is a soft metal …. and chlorine … a gas, share electrons. The magnetic force holds the sodium and chlorine together in a perfect embrace that we would die without.
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Now it’s time to hit the ‘Listen on WLRN’ button at the top to hear the remainder of my show. ‘A Word On Food’ airs on WLRN every Saturday around 8:30 a.m. at 91.3 and also 91.5 on the radio. I want to thank so many of you who tell me in person how much you are enjoying the show!
With thanks to Michele Anna Jordan, Author of the book in the photo and an excellent reference work.