evidence: Himalayan rock salt was first laid down more than 500 million years ago, 250 million years before massive tectonic plate pressure pushed up the mountains of the Himalayas. But while early cultures living around the Himalayan mountains are likely to have discovered and used deposits of rock salt much earlier, the history of Himalayan rock salt starts with Alexander the Great in 326 BC. The ancient Macedonian ruler and conqueror was recorded resting his army in the Khewra region of what is now northern Pakistan. His soldiers noticed their horses started to lick the salty rocks in the area, a small surface part of what is now known to be one of the world’s most extensive underground rock salt deposits. [...] Today, the Khewra salt mine in Pakistan is the second largest in the world and famous for producing culinary pink rock salt and Himalayan salt lamps.