Once upon a time...

Himalayan salt begins more than 500 million years ago in the formative Precambrian era.

An ancient inland sea slowly evaporated, leaving behind expansive mineral salt deposits.

As tectonic activity shifted the earth, the seabed was hermetically sealed and buried under incredible pressure.

As the continents continued to shift, the rock surrounding the seabed was forced upward, forming the mountain ranges we now know as the Himalayas.

The salt deposits were first discovered centuries later around 326 BC when Alexander the Great and his soldiers stopped to rest in the Khewra region in what is now Northern Pakistan.

One member of the group noted their tired and hungry horses had gathered around and were licking the salty rocks.

Centuries after this first discovery, the Mughal emperor Jalaluddin Muhammad Akbar introduced standardized salt mining in Khewra.

While many historians believed the salt was mined in small quantities by local communities, it wasn't until the reign of Emperor Akbar that this pink, mineral rich salt became a traded commodity.

In 1827, a British engineer established a sustainable excavation model called “Dome and Pillar” which gave rise to modern mining and increased harvesting.

Himalayan salt is still hand-harvested by skilled workers who use these time-honored methods and techniques established under Akbar and the British.