ANEXO: CONTEÚDOS EM INGLÊS A PINCH OF SALT Salt is a natural product, result of a chemical reaction between an acid and a basic solution. It can be found in mines, ponds or through seawater
evaporation and, most assuredly, in your kitchen; The human body produces no salt but it is crucial for a series of vital functions. From time immemorial, salt has been present as seasoning in many cultures, giving a “special touch” to any meal. It was indispensable in food preservation, especially during long voyages such as sea routes. It was used as payment as well as trading coin, that’s why it is found in the words like SALary (payment in salt). There was a time when the value of salt was equivalent to gold, the reason why salt is known as “white gold” in the island of Maio. Maio’s salt was a fundamental mean of survival for its population, since it was used to trade it for pastry, bananas and other products. It was sold to the lords Manito Bento and José Bento, who would export it in the Aleluia and Belmira feluccas, to other Cabo Verdean islands, Santiago amongst them, heading over to distant lands afterwards. Nowadays, the Cooperativa do Sal da Ilha de Maio is the entity that controls the harvesting of salt. This job is usually carried out by women, between the months of May and September, before the rain season. This timing is due to the difference between the salt that is produced by a mixture with rainwater and the salt produced only with sea water – this latter being more white and having better quality. The locals, who know how to perform this process, have the following to say: Everything starts when the seawater enters the ponds from the Lagoa Maior tip (next to Morro) and the subsurface during the rain and spring tide seasons – during new and full moons, when the sun and the moon are aligned, their effects over the tides are summed, generating the spring tides, making high tides higher and low tides lower. Once the salt is in the mareta, it’s crystalized. If the salt is ready, then it is broken with a spear and collected with a shovel. Sometimes, although the water does not completely evaporate, the mareta is still worked upon. The salt is then taken from the pond to the cooperative in a barrow. In the past, it was loaded on the balaio, carried overhead, being transported on a lamb leather bag or tow bag, on the back of a pack animal. Afterwards, the salt would be grinded and processed through an iodine machine, it is weighted and lined up for packaging and storage. Up to 200 bags of table salt are produced, the equivalent to 25kg. According to preference, three types of salt can be found in the cooperative: coarse, table and crystal salt.
CENTRO INTERPRETATIVO DAS SALINAS DE PORTO INGLÊS
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