Salt (IV) The only rock directly consumed by man…

I have missed something important in my previous Salt blogs that I forgot to clarify. I stated in Salt (I) that “Table salt is the only rock directly consumed by man.”

And that is absolutely true. However, I just simply stated that fact. There was no definition or explanation, just a stated fact. I was shocked, haha. The absence of an explanation or definition took me by surprise, because my writing style almost revolves around defining and explaining complex ideas (which is why Semester 01 blog posts were about classifying and defining different sciences). Now would adding that information to that blog make the statement less powerful? Maybe.

But how is table salt the only rock directly consumed by man? Haven’t you heard of rock sugar or rock candy? So what’s the deal with that…?

In some cases, names of foods are given because they resemble other foods fairly close to each other, because humans just love classifying things. Rock sugar (or rock candy when you add colors) is not technically a rock. Just like pink pepper corns aren’t technically berries from the true pepper tree (Piper nigrum). However they look, taste, and smell like a pepper berry from P. nigrum that the chefs classify them as pepper.

rock (n): [Middle English rokke, from Old French “dial.” (Norman & Picard) roke, from Vulgar Latin *rocca] consolidated or unconsolidated solid mineral matter

The key to why salt (and not sugar) can be classified as rocks is with the precise definition of mineral.

mineral (n): [Middle English, from Medieval Latin minerale, from neuter of mineralis] a solid homogenous crystalline chemical element or compound that results from the inorganic processes of nature

Understand that both salt and sugar are solids at standard room temperature (25℃ and 1 atmosphere), homogenous (of uniform structure or composition throughout), and crystalline compounds. However, sugar does not result from an inorganic process. In its most basic from, glucose sugar is produced one of the most common organic processes – photosynthesis.
Therefore, sugar is not a mineral which means it is also not a rock…and salt is still a rock (yay for eating rocks?)

Another definition of mineral could have bypassed the “inorganic processes” with an inorganic substance. However this requires me to explain that an organic substance contains carbon atoms. By this point, one would need some background in beginning chemistry.

In any case, I still enjoy the white rocks we sprinkle on food.

-As always: Just because you are reading cool articles about salt doesn’t mean you should use MORE of it! Please, be safe and healthy. Consult a (certified) doctor if you experience any unusual symptoms. Please enjoy responsibly.