"Salt can be taken from the sea or the mines. It is a useful commodity and not just a way for Halfling cooks to season meat."
- —Description of Saltworkers' Guild in Total War: Warhammer.[1]
The Saltworkers' Guild is a Dwarf guild of the Karaz Ankor that controls the mining of salt. Whilst the Saltworkers Guild lacks the political influence in the civil society of the Dwarf holds of other Dawi guilds, it does have very close ties to the Empire, its major export partner.[1a]
Dwarf tastes are far less refined than those of the High Elves, as they adore ale and they like stewed as well as roasted meats. And that's about it when it comes to the variety of the Dwarfen palate. The only seasonings and spices they tend to appreciate are for bowls of kuri;[1a] a meat stew boiled up by travelling Dwarfs from whatever ingredients are at hand, which is traditionally spiced with wild berries.[2a] However, Dwarfs do like a bit of salt, whether it's with their butter, sprinkled in their ale or slathered on their meat while it's roasting on the spit.[1a]
Dwarfen salt mining is like any kind of mining, a perilous vocation, although Dwarfs are far better at it than most.[1c] Solidified salt is often mined from brine wells sunk in rocky areas, but anywhere there is a saltwater spring usually denotes a brine deposit. However, in the past, warpstone-tainted, green-tinged brine has been mistakenly mined and when used to season a hunk of beef or belly of pork has caused the consumer to erupt in nightmarish mutations.[1d]
The largest salt mines can be found near Nordberg in Ostland and delve deep into the north-eastern face of the Middle Mountains where large deposits of pure salt rock are found.[1c] As well as having great grinding machinery for pulverising rock salt, as developed by the Dwarf Engineers Guild or at the workshops of the Imperial Engineers School in Altdorf, they also make use of salterns, which are isolated saltwater bodies that use evaporation to filter the salt out of the water.[1b]