Food salt production in Eastern Woodlands North American indigenous communities was chiefly achieved via the use of salt pans, large ceramic vessels which were then filled with (wet) brine or (dry) salt collected from salt licks that was then dried out to create usable culinary salt. In dry cases, due to the presence of non-edible soils in the "raw" salt, the salt had to be purified through a filtration process in which it was mixed with water and then allowed to seep through a cloth or basket layer, leaving the unwanted sediment on the cloth while the salt water progressed to the pan. Unlike in Europe and Mesoamerica, there is little evidence that the use of fire to expedite the drying process was common practice. For communities without access to salt flats, the trade networks of the Eastern Woodlands supplied salt.

On the West Coast, different practices were in place. One of the chief sources of sodium to Coastal Californian Indigenous groups was seaweed, which made up a major part of the diet of groups like the Ohlone, Salinan, Coast Miwok, Wappo, Kashaya Pomo, Yuki, and Coast Yuki. Additionally, salt was often collected from evaporated seaside pools. For inland California groups, salt was either acquired through trade or via annual salt collection trips to the coast.

Sources: Paul N. Eubanks & Ian W. Brown (2015) Certain Trends in Eastern Woodlands Salt Production Technology, Midcontinental Journal of Archaeology, 40:3, 231-256, DOI: 10.1179/2327427115Y.0000000005

Kent Lightfoot, and Otis Parrish. 2009. California Indians and Their Environment : An Introduction. California Natural History Guides. Berkeley: University of California Press. 216, 250.