Glasswort

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Salicornia europaea (common glasswort). Salicornia europaea MS 0802.JPG
Salicornia europaea (common glasswort).

The glassworts are various succulent, annual halophytic plants, that is, plants that thrive in saline environments, such as seacoasts and salt marshes. The original English glasswort plants belong to the genus Salicornia , but today the glassworts include halophyte plants from several genera, some of which are native to continents unknown to the medieval English, and growing in ecosystems, such as mangrove swamps, never envisioned when the term glasswort was coined.

Contents

The common name "glasswort" came into use in the 16th century to describe plants growing in England whose ashes could be used for making soda-based (as opposed to potash-based) glass. [1] [2]

Industrial uses

The ashes of glasswort plants, and also of their Mediterranean counterpart saltwort plants, yield soda ash, which is an important ingredient for glassmaking and soapmaking. Soda ash is an alkali whose active ingredient is now known to be sodium carbonate. Glasswort and saltwort plants sequester the sodium they absorb from salt water into their tissues (see Salsola soda ). Ashing of the plants converts some of this sodium into sodium carbonate (or "soda", in one of the old uses of the term).[ citation needed ]

In the medieval and early post-medieval centuries, various glasswort plants were collected at tidal marshes and other saline places in the Mediterranean region. The collected plants were burned. The resulting ashes were mixed with water. Sodium carbonate is soluble in water. Non-soluble components of the ashes sank to the bottom of the water container. The water with the sodium carbonate dissolved in it was then transferred to another container, and then the water was evaporated off, leaving behind the sodium carbonate. Another major component of the ashes that is soluble in water is potassium carbonate, a.k.a. potash. The resulting product consisted mainly of a mixture of sodium carbonate and potassium carbonate. This product was called "soda ash" (it was also called "alkali"). It contained 20% to 30% sodium carbonate. For glassmaking, it was superior to a potash product obtained by the same procedure from the ashes of non-salty plants. If plant ashes were not washed as just described, they were still usable in glassmaking but the results were not as good.[ citation needed ]

The appearance of the word glasswort in English is reasonably contemporaneous with a 16th-century resurgence in English glassmaking, which had suffered a long decline after Roman times. [3] [4] This resurgence was led by glassmakers who emigrated to England from Lorraine and from Venice. The Lorraine glassmakers brought with them the technology of forest glass, the greenish glass that used potash from wood ashes as a flux. The Venetian glassmakers brought with them the technology of cristallo, the immaculately clear glass that used soda ash as a flux. These glassmakers would have recognized Salicornia europaea growing in England as a source for soda ash. Prior to their arrival, it was said that the plant "hath no name in English". [2]

By the 18th century, Spain had an enormous industry producing soda ash from saltworts; the soda ash from this source was known as barrilla . [5] Scotland had a large 18th-century industry producing soda ash from seaweed. The source of this ash was kelp. This industry was so lucrative that it led to overpopulation in the Western Isles of Scotland, and one estimate is that 100,000 people were occupied with "kelping" during the summer months. [6] In the same period, soda ash (la soude de Narbonne) was produced in quantity from glasswort proper around Narbonne, France. [7] [8] The commercialization of the Leblanc process for synthesizing sodium carbonate (from salt, limestone, and sulfuric acid) brought an end to the era of farming for soda ash in the first half of the 19th century.[ citation needed ]

Tecticornia pergranulata (blackseed glasswort). Samphire Halosarcia.png
Tecticornia pergranulata (blackseed glasswort).

Culinary uses

Glasswort salad Deniz borulcesi salatasi (glasswort salad).jpg
Glasswort salad

Young shoots of Salicornia europaea are tender and can be eaten raw as a salad: glasswort salad or samphire salad (Turkish : Deniz börülcesi salatası). This salad is a part of Turkish cuisine, also made with lemon juice, olive oil [9] and garlic. [10] [11] It is commonly served as a meze.[ citation needed ] The shoots can also be pickled. [12]

The plant can further be prepared in several ways – cooked, steamed, or stir fried – and eaten as a vegetable dish. [13]

Glasswort species

Plants that have been called glassworts include:

Salicornia perennis (perennial glasswort) Arthrocnemum-perenne01.jpg
Salicornia perennis (perennial glasswort)

Related Research Articles

In chemistry, an alkali is a basic, ionic salt of an alkali metal or an alkaline earth metal. An alkali can also be defined as a base that dissolves in water. A solution of a soluble base has a pH greater than 7.0. The adjective alkaline, and less often, alkalescent, is commonly used in English as a synonym for basic, especially for bases soluble in water. This broad use of the term is likely to have come about because alkalis were the first bases known to obey the Arrhenius definition of a base, and they are still among the most common bases.

Soda or SODA may refer to:

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sodium hydroxide</span> Chemical compound with formula NaOH

Sodium hydroxide, also known as lye and caustic soda, is an inorganic compound with the formula NaOH. It is a white solid ionic compound consisting of sodium cations Na+ and hydroxide anions OH−.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sodium carbonate</span> Chemical compound

Sodium carbonate is the inorganic compound with the formula Na2CO3 and its various hydrates. All forms are white, odourless, water-soluble salts that yield alkaline solutions in water. Historically, it was extracted from the ashes of plants grown in sodium-rich soils. Because the ashes of these sodium-rich plants were noticeably different from ashes of wood, sodium carbonate became known as "soda ash". It is produced in large quantities from sodium chloride and limestone by the Solvay process, as well as by carbonating sodium hydroxide which is made using the Chlor-alkali process.

Sodium silicate is a generic name for chemical compounds with the formula Na
2xSi
yO
2y+x or (Na
2O)
x·(SiO
2)
y, such as sodium metasilicate Na
2SiO
3, sodium orthosilicate Na
4SiO
4, and sodium pyrosilicate Na
6Si
2O
7. The anions are often polymeric. These compounds are generally colorless transparent solids or white powders, and soluble in water in various amounts.

The Leblanc process was an early industrial process for making soda ash used throughout the 19th century, named after its inventor, Nicolas Leblanc. It involved two stages: making sodium sulfate from sodium chloride, followed by reacting the sodium sulfate with coal and calcium carbonate to make sodium carbonate. The process gradually became obsolete after the development of the Solvay process.

The Solvay process or ammonia-soda process is the major industrial process for the production of sodium carbonate (soda ash, Na2CO3). The ammonia-soda process was developed into its modern form by the Belgian chemist Ernest Solvay during the 1860s. The ingredients for this are readily available and inexpensive: salt brine (from inland sources or from the sea) and limestone (from quarries). The worldwide production of soda ash in 2005 was estimated at 42 million tonnes, which is more than six kilograms (13 lb) per year for each person on Earth. Solvay-based chemical plants now produce roughly three-quarters of this supply, with the remaining being mined from natural deposits. This method superseded the Leblanc process.

<i>Salicornia</i> Genus of flowering plants in the family Amaranthaceae

Salicornia is a genus of succulent, halophytic flowering plants in the family Amaranthaceae that grow in salt marshes, on beaches, and among mangroves. Salicornia species are native to North America, Europe, Central Asia, and southern Africa. Common names for the genus include glasswort, pickleweed, picklegrass, and marsh samphire; these common names are also used for some species not in Salicornia. To French speakers in Atlantic Canada, they are known colloquially as titines de souris. The main European species is often eaten, called marsh samphire in Britain, and the main North American species is occasionally sold in grocery stores or appears on restaurant menus as sea beans, samphire greens or sea asparagus.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Samphire</span> Common name for multiple species of plants

Samphire is a name given to a number of succulent salt-tolerant plants (halophytes) that tend to be associated with water bodies.

Saltwort is a common name for various genera of flowering plants that thrive in salty environments, typically in coastal salt marshes and seashores, including:

<span class="mw-page-title-main">James Muspratt</span>

James Muspratt was a British chemical manufacturer who was the first to make alkali by the Leblanc process on a large scale in the United Kingdom.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cristallo</span>

Cristallo is a glass that is totally clear, without the slight yellow or greenish color originating from iron oxide impurities. This effect is achieved through small additions of manganese oxide. Often Cristallo has a low lime content, which makes it prone to glass corrosion.

Alkali manufacture is the process by which an alkali is made. Typical alkalis, produced commercially, include sodium hydroxide, sodium carbonate, potassium hydroxide and potassium carbonate.

<i>Salsola soda</i> Species of plant

Salsola soda, the opposite-leaved saltwort, oppositeleaf Russian thistle, or barilla plant, is a small, annual, succulent shrub that is native to the Mediterranean Basin. It is a halophyte that typically grows in coastal regions and can be irrigated with salt water.

<i>Kali turgidum</i> Species of flowering plant in the amaranth family Amaranthaceae

Kali turgidum, commonly known as prickly saltwort or prickly glasswort, is an annual plant that grows in salty sandy coastal soils.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Barilla</span> Several species of salt-tolerant plants

Barilla refers to several species of salt-tolerant (halophyte) plants that, until the 19th century, were the primary source of soda ash and hence of sodium carbonate. The word "barilla" was also used directly to refer to the soda ash obtained from plant sources. The word is an anglicization of the Spanish word barrilla for saltwort plants.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alkali soil</span> Soil type with pH > 8.5

Alkali, or Alkaline, soils are clay soils with high pH, a poor soil structure and a low infiltration capacity. Often they have a hard calcareous layer at 0.5 to 1 metre depth. Alkali soils owe their unfavorable physico-chemical properties mainly to the dominating presence of sodium carbonate, which causes the soil to swell and difficult to clarify/settle. They derive their name from the alkali metal group of elements, to which sodium belongs, and which can induce basicity. Sometimes these soils are also referred to as alkaline sodic soils.
Alkaline soils are basic, but not all basic soils are alkaline.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Forest glass</span>

Forest glass is late medieval glass produced in northwestern and central Europe from approximately 1000–1700 AD using wood ash and sand as the main raw materials and made in factories known as glasshouses in forest areas. It is characterized by a variety of greenish-yellow colors, the earlier products often being of crude design and poor quality, and was used mainly for everyday vessels and increasingly for ecclesiastical stained glass windows. Its composition and manufacture contrast sharply with Roman and pre-Roman glassmaking centered on the Mediterranean and contemporaneous Byzantine and Islamic glass making to the east.

<i>Salicornia europaea</i> Species of flowering plant in the amaranth family Amaranthaceae

Salicornia europaea, known as marsh samphire, common glasswort or just glasswort, is a halophytic annual dicot flowering plant in the family Amaranthaceae. Glasswort is a succulent herb also known as ‘Pickle weed’ or ‘Marsh samphire’. As a succulent, it has high water content, which accounts for its slightly translucent look and gives it the descriptive name “glasswort.” To some people, it is known as “chicken toe” because of its shape. To others, it is called “saltwort.” It grows in various zones of intertidal salt marshes, on beaches, and among mangroves.

<i>Seidlitzia rosmarinus</i> Species of plant

Seidlitzia rosmarinus is a perennial-green desert species of saltwort in the Amaranthaceae family. It is endemic to the lower Jordan Valley along the Dead Sea, in Israel and Jordan, and in the Syrian desert, Central Iraq and in the coastal regions of Saudi Arabia, the islands of Bahrain, Qatar, and Iran, commonly known in Arabic by the names ʾušnān and šenān and in the Neo-Aramaic languages by reflexes of ʾuḥlā. It is often used by Bedouins for cleaning as a soap substitute. In medieval Arabic literature, it is also known by the names of "green ushnan" and "launderers' potash", having been used since time immemorial to produce nabulsi soap and as an electuary in compounding theriac for use in treating scorpion stings, as well as for extracting potassium for other medicinal uses.

References

  1. ↑ "Definition of glasswort," Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd Edition (Oxford University Press, 1989). Definition retrieved from online edition (subscription required) July 20, 2007.
  2. 1 2 Turner, William (1995). A New Herball: Parts II and III, edited by George T. L. Chapman, Frank McCombie, and Anne U. Wesencraft (Cambridge University Press, ISBN   978-0-521-44549-8). This book contains a facsimile of Turner's original 1562 and 1568 volumes, along with an edited transcript. The transcript of Turner's article on Kali (p. 673) includes the sentence "Kali, as I do remember, hath no name in English, and although it be very plenteous in England, yet I never could meet with any man that knew it. But lest this herb should be without a name, it may be called Saltwurt, because it is salt in taste, and Salalkali is made thereof. It may also be called Glas Wede, because the ashes of it serve to make glass."
  3. ↑ Engle, Anita (1977). Readings in Glass History: No. 8 (Phoenix Press, Jerusalem, ASIN   B0007BPWYG). Quoted in review by Haden, H. J. (1973). Technology and Culture, Vol. 19, No. 3 pp. 548–550.
  4. ↑ Kurinsky, Samuel (1991). The Glassmakers: Odyssey of the Jews (Hippocrene Books, ISBN   978-0-87052-901-6). See also the web version, retrieved July 31, 2007.
  5. ↑ Pérez, Joaquín Fernández (1998). "From the barrilla to the Solvay factory in Torrelavega: The Manufacture of Saltwort in Spain", Antilia: The Spanish Journal of History of Natural Sciences and Technology, Vol. IV, Art. 1. ISSN   1136-2049. Archived at WebCite from this original URL on 2008-03-01.
  6. ↑ Clow, Archibald, and Clow, Nan L. (1952). Chemical Revolution (Ayer Co. Pub., June 1952), pp. 65–90. ISBN   0-8369-1909-2.
  7. ↑ Pereira, Jonathan (1842). Elements of Materia Medica and Therapeutics, Vol. I (Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans, London), p. 551. Pereira indicates that soude de Narbonne was obtained from Salicornia herbacea, and had an alkali content of 14–15%. Online version at https://books.google.com/
  8. ↑ Fremy, Edmond (1883). Encyclopédie Chimique: Tome V, Application de Chimique Inorganique (Dunod, Paris), p. 548. Online version retrieved July 21, 2007.
  9. ↑ Tonguç, S.E.; Türkmenoğlu, F. (2007). 101 must-see places in Turkey. Boyut. p. 111. ISBN   978-975-23-0450-5.
  10. ↑ Deniz Börülcesi Salatasi
  11. ↑ Sarımsaklı Deniz Börülcesi Tarifi
  12. ↑ Angier, Bradford (1974). Field Guide to Edible Wild Plants. Harrisburg, PA: Stackpole Books. p. 84. ISBN   0-8117-0616-8. OCLC   799792.
  13. ↑ Nyerges, Christopher (2016). Foraging Wild Edible Plants of North America: More than 150 Delicious Recipes Using Nature's Edibles. Rowman & Littlefield. p. 88. ISBN   978-1-4930-1499-6.
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