Salt Cod

Cod swim in the north Atlantic, from Norway to Iceland to Newfoundland. I refer here to authentic Atlantic cod, Gadus morhua, and not to any of a number of Southern and even freshwater relatives. According to Mark Kurlansky, in his revealing historical book Cod, it was the Basques who first salted cod in large quantities and marketed it in Europe. They weren’t, however, fishing for cod in local waters or even in the European side of the north Atlantic, but off the coast of Newfoundland, where cod were especially abundant. And this was before Columbus “discovered” America.