Chetvergovaya salt is black salt prepared and sanctified on “Clean” Thursday in the temples and churches of Great Russia.
Black salt was made for the whole coming year, and according to legends, this salt had magical and healing properties and helped cleanse the body and soul. It is rather difficult to explain why black salt was made on “Clean” Thursday and not on another Orthodox holiday. Perhaps this is due to the miraculous properties of salt. They used it as a way to cleanse the body, along with cleansing the body and home.
Orthodox peasants consecrated black salt along with Easter eggs and Easter cakes, put black salt in the “red corner”. Thus, black salt rightfully took its rightful place on the Easter table.
Unfortunately, until now, most of the recipes for making Black Salt have been lost. Still, the original Russian “classic” recipe has remained and is used in everyday life to this day.
The hostesses prepared black salt in a Russian oven, while they took coarse-grained salt and pounded it in a mortar, then took linen cloth (instead of cloth, they also used bark bast shoes) and mixed the salt with the leavened milk. Rye or Borodino bread could be used instead of leavened grounds.
In addition to the traditional recipe for making black salt, there were many others. For example, salt was baked together with cabbage leaves, spices (oregano, mint).
When salt with these components are burned out, some minerals remain (potassium, calcium, magnesium, phosphorus, iodine, chromium). They add a spicy taste to salt, and the food, flavoured with it, becomes aromatic and appetizing.
Much attention was also paid to the wood with which the stove was heated when making black salt. For example, in some villages, the stove was heated with “Sunday” firewood, which was prepared during the whole of Great Lent, setting aside one log each Sunday. It was believed that when making black salt, the fire in the furnace fills it with magical properties.