Marishka posted this:
>>1840s.  They were the 16th family to settle in Dallas County.  I thought
you might enjoy reading about all the wild game and plants they ate as
well as how they obtained their salt.

>>>"A salt lick (a bare place where not even grass grew and to it were many
animal trails) near the Loving home furnished salt for their family,
Indians, and wild beasts.  Margaret obtained salt by boiling soil from
this "lick" with water in a large pot over the open fire.  When this
mixture boiled down, the soil came to the top, and was skimmed off.
This 'boiling' was repeated until nothing but salt residue was left in
the pot."

Reply:
These people are not paleo-lithic; they are neo-lithic.  That they had a
strong desire for salt does not indicate a NEED for salt, only a  habituated
taste for it. These early settlers were accustomed to salt.  Once people
have used it, they get addicted.  Happens nowadays too.  But this does not
show that their bodies or our bodies require it for health.

Burkitt and Trowell talk about plants being burned for salt in Africa; these
"salt" that is obtained is potassium salt, not sodium chloride.

Don