| PEAT BURNING
SALT PRODUCTION As the sea level receded, the huge flat
coastal areas again appeared and allowed access to the marshes, the meers, claires, and
broads, and peat became available as a fuel for burning, Leaching the salt from the peat
ashes became a competitive method of winning salt, instead of wood, and the inland salt
springs
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Salt Production - Boiling with PEAT fuel
Peat was recycled: first it was dug in coastal areas, after being
soaked at high tide, and then dried and burned. Salt was further dissolved from the peat
ash by seawater, as it was filtered through.
The coastline cross section
with turfs of peat soaking in sea brine. Note the receding coast , which was later to form
the "meres"
The brine concentrate was evaporated in cauldrons, with the peat
again being used to fuel the fire. In order to eliminate unwanted contamination, eggshells
were thrown into the cauldren, to which the unwanted particles adhered, and the skum was
skimmed off the surface of the boiling brine. In another description of year 1556, a
chemical process used today, was employed, Flotation
Characteristic scheme of peat salt making as
reconstructed for the German North Sea coast from remnants of islands showing the changing
shorelines
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salt production in Zeeland and surroundings dr. K.A.H.W. Leenders : paintingby Darink Delven at the Zierikzee
townhall-museum, showing the first phases of the saltproduction process
"Darinck Delven
Ashes of
saltproduction from peat and seawater. Analysis of "Zel as" at Steenbergen,
province North-Brabant, The Netherlands K.A.H.W. Leenders
The whites of eggs were used to create additional froth, to bring
the impurities to the surface for skimming, and by bringing the slurry to a quick boil.
Other additions used were pouring a small quantity of animal blood in the cauldren, or
pouring some of "the best and strongest ale" The final concentrate of
some 50% to 90% , a wet salt sludge which could be molded was then dried out in small clay
molds set between the large pots. The salt cakes formed were more or less constant in size
and weight to about 200 grms, though it varied. In Mexico using the 'Sal Cochidas' molds
of thick ceramic cylinder shape were even smaller
dr. K.A.H.W. Leenders
- The peat turfs cut and arranged in rows for soaking in
the sea brine
The process for salt boiling consisted of dumbbell shaped supports
for the big pots and cup-like moulds resting between them. The pots were continually
refilled with 'make-up' new brine, The wet moulds with growing crystals prevented the
inner side of the vessels from getting any hotter than 100C degrees, even though the
outside of the vessels was exposed to the flames of the fire. This crude firing of the
clay moulds for this specific purpose, may be the origin of pottery. The enormous
amount of half burned sherds, found in the 'red hills' on marshy coasts, bear witness to
the undeniable enormity of activity in salt making, where and when the sealevel was
suitable.
 
Technique for boiling brine over a fire -
Agricola De re metallica, Basle [1556] and ceramic molds
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Agricola De re metallica, Basle
[1556] THE IDEAL SYSTEM INCORPORATING SOLAR EVAPORATION AND
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CONTROLLED BATCH
HARVESTING FROM SLURRY TO DRY SALT SOLIDS THROUGH A SERIES OF PANS
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