What price salt?

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Posted by Mick on March 21, 2008 at 10:30:13:

How Much Would You Pay for Salt From Mars?

By Mike Nizza

Like the absurdly expensive balsamic vinegars of years past, the plainest of kitchen staples has been elevated to a luxury good. At Williams-Sonoma’s Web site, customers can now spend up to $28 on a 3.5-ounce jar of salt.

Granted, that one contains truffles, while another costing $18 is 5.7 ounces “gently smoked over wood chips from aged oak Chardonnay wine barrels.” The purveyor of fine cooking accessories also sells an 8.8-ounce jar of salt harvested from “the island of Ré, off France’s Atlantic coast, since the seventh century” and a 4-ounce lump from “the foothills of the Himalayas” that you grate yourself. Those are both closer to $10 apiece.

If those prices seem a bit over the top, imagine how much salt magnates would charge for the most exotic salt of all, the stuff discovered this week by NASA’s Mars Odyssey orbiter. From BBC News:

Mars appears to be covered in salt crystals from ancient dried-up lakes, new evidence suggests.

A Nasa probe has found signs that the southern hemisphere is dusted with chloride mineral, perhaps “table salt”.

The discovery was reported in today’s issue of the journal Science.

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: How Much Would You Pay for Salt From Mars?

: By Mike Nizza

: Like the absurdly expensive balsamic vinegars of years past, the plainest of kitchen staples has been elevated to a luxury good. At Williams-Sonoma’s Web site, customers can now spend up to $28 on a 3.5-ounce jar of salt. 

: Granted, that one contains truffles, while another costing $18 is 5.7 ounces “gently smoked over wood chips from aged oak Chardonnay wine barrels.” The purveyor of fine cooking accessories also sells an 8.8-ounce jar of salt harvested from “the island of Ré, off France’s Atlantic coast, since the seventh century” and a 4-ounce lump from “the foothills of the Himalayas” that you grate yourself. Those are both closer to $10 apiece. 

: If those prices seem a bit over the top, imagine how much salt magnates would charge for the most exotic salt of all, the stuff discovered this week by NASA’s Mars Odyssey orbiter. From BBC News:

: Mars appears to be covered in salt crystals from ancient dried-up lakes, new evidence suggests.

: A Nasa probe has found signs that the southern hemisphere is dusted with chloride mineral, perhaps “table salt”. 

: The discovery was reported in today’s issue of the journal Science.


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