This valuation comes after a rich global history showcasing wars fought over salt, trade routes built for commodities, taxes levied against the mineral and even cities named in sodium's legacy.
"You could not have an international economy if you didn't have salt," Mark Kurlansky, author of "Salt: A World History," told CNBC.
"We're seeing that the majority is deicing salt," Seth Goldstein, equities analyst with Morningstar, told CNBC.
However, if too much salt permeates our environment, the effects can be dangerous, according to the Environmental Protection Agency.
Runoff from deicing salts that keep our roads safe in wintry weather is the most obvious way that salt enters the environment.