Foodstuff

Materials consumed as or in food. A small collection, and a reminder that the boundary between a mineral and a foodstuff is a matter of dose and purity rather than of substance.

• Mineral

  Halite

  Rock salt — the only mineral people eat, and for much of history a commodity worth fighting over.

• Compound

  Salt

  and the only mineral eaten as itself — every other dietary mineral arrives inside food rather than being added to it from a jar

Each of these uses is established and cited on its own. Whether something counts as an ore, for instance, depends on grade, price and era — and those qualifications are shown alongside it.