salt

As a pre-teen, freshly sprung from an orthodontist’s chair, my idea of heaven was a Wendy’s fry — natural-cut, skins freckled along the edges, salt like tiny rhinestones clinging to grease — dunked into a chocolate Frosty.

The cost of fertiliser has rocketed, too - partly because of trade disputes with Canada, which has raised the cost of potash, a salt imported from Canada by American farmers and used in fertiliser.

I returned with golden oil, salt like snow flakes and a warm sourdough loaf to join Maria José’s swish tomato.

As increased quantities of sugar and salt crept into diets in the rest of the world, Japan went in the other direction - with public health messaging successfully convincing people to reduce their salt consumption.

Take them with a grain of salt, however: De Jong, then in his 70s, was very experienced but not formally trained in archaeology.