Storing Food in T2K

[Littlearmies]

I've just been reading a book called "Salt: A World History" by Mark Kaplansky which, despite it's rather anorak subject title is fascinating - it has recipes for salting and using salt and making salt. I rather think that salt producing areas would become rather valuable locations for trade and settlement. I'd recommend it to anyone.

You can also pick up lovely tidbits like where the word "salacious" comes from!

[pmulcahy11b]

Originally Posted by Littlearmies

You can also pick up lovely tidbits like where the word "salacious" comes from!

Oh, that's easy! It's from Star Wars Episode 6...

[Slappy]

This can also be a useful reason for trade. Salt can only be mined in limited areas inland and produced on the coast. Salt trading would be one of the major commercial enterprises in T2k. I haven't thought about it that much, but it seems there might be the highest demand in the fall as communities prepare for the winter and 'salt away' food. Why not kill that extra hog in October and salt it for eating later instead of feeding it all winter?

There are some spectacular salt mines southeast of Krakow by the way.

[WallShadow]

Originally Posted by Slappy

This can also be a useful reason for trade. Salt can only be mined in limited areas inland and produced on the coast. Salt trading would be one of the major commercial enterprises in T2k.
<SNIP>
There are some spectacular salt mines southeast of Krakow by the way.

There are several major salt mines in the US, one in Hutchinson KS and another _under_ Lake Erie accessed through a portal in Cleveland OH.Many have already followed the Twilight canon from Poland's salt mines in that sections of them are reserved for storage or even manufacturing. IIRC the Hutchinson Mine had machine tools and industrial equipment stored there as a hedge against nuclear war. Now where have we heard something like that before?

[Raellus]

There's an amazing salt mine near Krakow (I can't remember if it's detailed in the FCoK module) that's on UNESCO's list of World Heritage Sites.

http://www.wieliczka-saltmine.com/

I passed up an opportunity to go there in order to spend more time in Krakow itself. I can't decide if I regret that decision or not.

Salt's going to be extremely important in the T2KU because of its usefulness in preserving food. I can see it becoming like a form of currency. It has been used as such in the past.

[Littlearmies]

Originally Posted by pmulcahy11b

Oh, that's easy! It's from Star Wars Episode 6...

Actually its from the Romans - they said that a guy who was in love (or lust) was "salted up" ("salax" in Latin) and salacious stems from salax. I find stuff like that fascinating so I'm really enjoying the book.

In the UK Cheshire is the centre of salt mining (actually it's often that you drill down and take the brine from the well - it's why salt drilling was the precursor technology for the oil industry, that and the fact that salt domes are an indicator for oil - you then reduce the brine to below 24% salt solution at which time salt crystals begin to precipitate). In the US it used to be Onondaga in upstate NY, Kanawha in the South.

Using evaporation in large tanks is a slower technology but if you have an area with a good climate (south end of San Francisco Bay) it's quite possible. Otherwise you need to build some basic technology, in a coastal area with fuel and transport links.

My view of the Twilight World is that, blessed with the knowledge of how to do things but not the equipment (or energy) to do them on a modern large scale, we would revert to 18th and 19th Century methods of production at least at first.

[TiggerCCW UK]

Theres a pretty big salt mine just outside Belfast as well;

http://www.irishsaltmining.com/home.htm

Although with this being designed to produce rocksalt for de icing work I would imagine you'd need to refine it for use in food.

[kalos72]

A good thread I would like to bump with a question...

How would you actually store it? Cans wont be an option unless you can make new ones. Glass jars? Clay pots?

Considering most idiots would discard things like a good mason jar or a tin can...what would you do?

How about for military forces where mobility is a concern?

[simonmark6]

Large scale storage: Barrels, relatively easy to make and useful for a number of purposes.
Small scale storage/vital stores: Stoneware jars are possible but you could make some tin or steel cans, it wouldn't be impossible using low tech but hygene standards might be a problem.

[kalos72]

Does anyone have any numbers on barrels both storage and production by chance? Maybe some HARN materials that would help?