Himalayan salt is mined from the Salt Range mountains - an outer range of the Himalayan Mountains in Punjab, Pakistan.[1]
Although its salt is sometimes marketed as "Jurassic Sea Salt", this salt deposit comes from a seabed of the Permian and Cretaceous eras 100 to 200 million years ago.[2]
The first records of mining are from the Janjua people in the 1200s.[3]
Himalayan salt is mostly mined at the Khewra Salt Mine in Khewra, Jhelum District, Punjab, which is situated in the foothills of the Salt Range hill system in the Punjab province of the Pakistan Indo-Gangetic Plain.[1][4]
Mineral composition[edit]
Himalayan salt crystals
Himalayan salt is chemically similar to table salt. Some salts mined in the Himalayas are not suitable for use as food or industrial use without purification due to impurities.[1]
Some salt crystals from this region have an off-white to transparent color, while impurities in some veins of salt give it a pink, reddish, or beet-red color.[5][6]
According to one estimate, Himalayan salt is 98% sodium chloride, with 2% of it being minerals such as magnesium, potassium and calcium. This level of impurities is similar to that seen in common table salt,[7] and is considered to be too small to provide Himalayan salt with any special health benefits.[8]
Uses - see Wikipedia ..........