Food historian Susan McLellan Plaisted will present, “Maine­ly Salt: The Importance of Salt in the 18th Century,” on Saturday, Aug. 13, 11 a.m.-4 p.m. at the South Portland Historical Society.

All ages are welcome. The presentation will include hands-on activities and a variety of demonstrations that will open visitor’s eyes to the historic importance of salt in cooking and preserving food.

“Salt is the only rock that is absolutely vital for human life,” Plaisted said. “Not only was it needed by the human body, but in the time before refrigeration, every family (used salt to preserve) seasonal foods needed for basic survival.”

During the Revolutionary War, she added, there was an outcry for salt because the English salt trade had ceased. “It’s very difficult for those of us that live in this century to realize how vital salt was for the basic food supply,” Plaisted added.

Salt is used in cheese-making, brining fish, making pickles, making butter, preserving eggs, preserving meat and lots more, she said. Salt was also an especially important product for a seaport.

Vessels exported fish, salted and brined in 100-pound barrels, and imported 100-pound barrels of salt. With so much salt needed, salt imports were augmented with local salt works, Plaisted said.

“In what is now South Portland, my research has uncovered the location of two such operations and the salt works were considered to be quite profitable,” in their time, she said.

This program is free, although donations to support the historical society are welcome.

Plaisted, who lives in Pennsylvania, was born and raised in South Portland, and every August offers a food history program to benefit the South Portland Historical Society in memory of her parents, Guy S. and Ruth E. McLellan.

– Kate Irish Collins

Susan McLellan Plaisted, a food historian, is offering a special program on the history and importance of salt in South Portland on Aug. 13.