Salt is a mineral made of sodium and chloride that makes food taste better and helps preserve it. You've probably seen it as small white crystals in a shaker on the dinner table. When you sprinkle salt on French fries or popcorn, it enhances the flavor and makes your taste buds more alert to what you're eating.

For most of human history, salt was incredibly valuable because it was one of the only ways to keep meat and fish from spoiling before refrigeration existed. Roman soldiers were sometimes paid in salt. Wars were fought over salt mines, and trade routes were built to transport it. Cities grew up around salt deposits because controlling salt meant controlling wealth.

Today, salt still plays vital roles beyond cooking. It melts ice on winter roads, helps make paper and glass, and is essential in your body for nerves and muscles to work properly. Your body needs some salt to survive, though too much isn't healthy.

As a verb, to salt something means to add salt to it, like salting a pot of soup.

When someone is described as the salt of the earth, it means they're genuine, reliable, and valuable to their community. If you take something with a grain of salt, you're being wisely skeptical about whether it's completely true.