I couldn't resist. This isn't salt-related at all unless you stretch and say that everyone "worth their salt" gives gifts during the Christmas season. For years, PNC Bank has been calculating the cost of providing the "partridge in a pear tree" and other gifts of the "Twelve Days of Christmas" and if you're ready for a short break from shopping, partying and family get-togethers, I hope you'll enjoy their Christmas Price Index .
For millenia, until the dawn of refrigeration a century ago, foods were salted for preservation because massive dosage of salt will kill bacteria. A blog December 3rd, reports that, using funding from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and National Science Foundation, researchers have now sequenced the genome of a bacterium from a Spanish solar saltworks that has adapted and exchanged genes with another organism to survive. USDA has an extensive research program to develop salt-resistent crops suitable for harsh desert horticulture like the U.S. Southwest and western Australia.
Last week, Democrats in the U.S. Senate garnered only 34 votes in favor of punitive measures against alleged excess profits by oil companies. In his Dec. 4th column , commentator George Will observed that gasoline prices have declined from $3.07 to $2.15 (in the DC area, they are lower than that and still declining). Will compared gas prices with the $185.60 that he calculates consumers pay for a gallon of Starbucks espresso. As much as we'd agree that many consider gas and coffee as staples, the real bargain is salt. Table salt is about 30 cents a pound and less-pure highway salt only 2 cents a pound.
