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Salt makers once added blood and beer to their brine

By The Salt AlmanacPublished November 8, 2026

Woodcut of a salt boiling house with a master tending an iron pan, a youth carrying straw, a woman working, baskets of salt, a bucket of blood and a tankard of beer
A salt boiling house like those at Halle in Saxony. The key lists the master, his helpers, baskets for shaping salt, a bucket containing blood (O) and a tankard of beer (P). From Agricola's De Re Metallica (1556), Hoover translation (1912).Georgius Agricola, 1556. Public domain, via the Internet Archive · Image source

At the salt works of Halle in Saxony, Agricola reported in 1556 that the salt boiler poured a little bullock's, calf's or goat's blood into the boiling brine, then skimmed off the scum that rose. In some places the blood was mixed with beer, and a little beer went in later too.

Read the full story: How Salt Was Made

More salt facts

Salt used to be shaped into conesSalt pans were once sealed with ox blood and liverAncient Gauls made salt by pouring brine on burning woodOne English town had 216 salt houses

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For school projects and reports. Teachers often prefer the original sources too: see the list below.

The Salt Almanac. (2026, November 8). Salt makers once added blood and beer to their brine. https://saltalmanac.com/did-you-know/salt-boilers-blood-and-beer

Original sources

  1. Agricola, G. De Re Metallica, Book 12. Hoover trans., 1912. https://archive.org/details/georgiusagricola00agririch