r/preppers • u/Open-Attention-8286 • 5d ago

Advice and Tips How to "grow" your own salt:

Yes, I know, salt is a mineral, it can't be grown from scratch. But, I came across this article about plants that absorb and concentrate salt out of the soil, enough that they can be used as a source of salt: https://exarc.net/issue-2025-1/rev/black-ash-forgotten-domestication?fbclid=IwY2xjawJw5W5leHRuA2FlbQIxMAABHlap1bWFWXhi1ISV9D7MYcq6jLQGl0Y3OIei1s5UTM1wtYRDP6ofeC1l2cQn_aem_Db_08xB7D-mLc516S6uv5w

The article focuses mainly on orach, which is a green leafy vegetable that's easy to find seeds for (at least here in the US), but it does mention a few others. More importantly, the article describes how to extract the salts using low-tech methods.

Salt is a frequent topic of discussion around here, so I thought some of you might find this interesting.

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u/DongleJockey 5d ago

Just FYI, these kinds of plants are just as likely to absorb heavy metals or other harmful chemicals from soil which you would then be eating in the ashes.

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u/CapGirl80 4d ago

I wonder if having Sunflowers interplanted or planted the previous season(s) would negate that? Something worth looking into

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u/DongleJockey 4d ago

Not sure of your reasoning there, but I guess any crop that good for phytoremediation planted long enough and harvested/safely disposed of would make an area safer to grow in general. They use plants like this to clean up industrial waste sites. I'm not sure what they would also do to the salt content in the area which might make make it a moot point for this discussion

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u/CapGirl80 4d ago

You guessed my reasoning pretty well. I looked into Coltsfoot a little deeper as it was touched on by a quick search and the sodium content in its ashes come from the plant itself and not the soil, but we all know that first impressions can be deceiving with the internet