Salt and pepper are daily seasonings that we use all the time in our foods, so we don’t think of it often but salt and pepper have had quite a life. When humans were hunter-gatherers people got all the salt they needed from the animal blood. But when humans became farmers and lived off of more plants than meat people needed to add more salt to their diet and that came as raw salt added to their meals. Towns and cities were built near salt mines and other sources of salt which could be found in just about any country so it was not very rare. Pepper on the other hand was very expensive. It is native to India but since it is so good and can be effectively used in almost all meals Europe traded with India to get it on a regular basis, although it is so expensive only kings and emperors could really afford it. It is just like how ice cream was. Ice cream was a delicacy that kings and other royalty could afford but was just too expensive for the common people to eat but is now a common desert. Salt and pepper shakers were invented by John Landis Mason, inventor of the mason jar. The shaker is basically a mason jar with the lid and band combined and with holes in the lid. Salt and pepper shakers are most often simple glass jars but some are more ornate like two dogs, with one lighter than the other which causes collecting shakers to be a hobby. After Masons patent ran out manufacturers started making them, proof that patents just stint the market, because if he hadn’t patented it we would’ve had the shakers much earlier.
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