 Salt for cooking, preservation or for use by common people was coarser; sea salt, or "bay salt", in particular, had more impurities, and was described in colors ranging from black to green.Expensive salt, on the other hand, looked like the standard commercial salt common today.The term "dessert" comes from the Old French "desservir", "to clear a table", literally "to un-serve", and originated during the Middle Ages.