Most of the salt we use comes from the oceans and from ancient underground salt deposits that formed when old seas dried up.

Main sources of salt

  • Sea salt: Seawater is led into shallow ponds and left so the sun and wind evaporate the water, leaving salt crystals behind.
  • Rock salt (halite): Huge underground beds of salt, created when ancient lakes and seas evaporated, are mined like other minerals and crushed for use.
  • Salt brine: Water is pumped underground to dissolve buried salt, then the salty water (brine) is brought back up and evaporated in tanks to make very pure table salt.

Where your table salt fits in

  • Regular table salt in kitchens is usually made from underground salt brines that are purified and evaporated, then sometimes fortified with iodine.
  • Many gourmet or “sea salt” products come specifically from coastal salt pans where seawater is evaporated in a traditional way.

In simple terms: rain and rivers dissolve salt from rocks, carry it to seas, and over millions of years that salt either stays in the ocean or gets locked into thick underground layers that people now mine or evaporate for the salt on your table.

Information gathered from public forums or data available on the internet and portrayed here.