Database: Salt Production

Until the 13th century, salt was obtained from dried seaweed. According to accounts from the 8th century, the seaweed was repeatedly washed in jars and the saltwater collected was boiled in order to produce salt crystals Then in the 16th century, a more efficient method called agehama was developed. The technique used beach sand containing particles of salt from the sea water.

Salt was mainly used for food preservation and for purification during religious rituals. From the Middle Ages until the end of the 16th century, women sold salt in temporary markets or in small local settlements, and sometimes in more distant towns. However, with the demographic growth and urbanization of the 16th century, demand for salt increased, and merchants began to buy salt in bulk from villages to sell it in towns where they sometimes owned a warehouse. Merchants did not produce salt they bought and sold. Sales of salt were subject to royalties paid in shares to the military or religious lords of a region who either resold the salt or reserved it for themselves, typically for use monastic rituals. In the 16th century, the trade system was still somewhat limited but would become better organized in the centuries that followed.