LOL! I'm just thankful they did along with the first guy who decided to pickle capers. I guess after 30,000+ years of eating we figured a few things out.
I've alway been intrigued by soap making. Fat, alkaloid water, boiling it down. Someone was really, really on the ball that day .
I also find it interesting that urine was a major source of cleaning fluid, even in the 1700s. Check out your shampoo bottle, we still use urea (main chemical in urine) today. Plus urea breaks down to form ammonia.
What I don't understand was that "lant" (old urine) was often used in baking of bread. I really can't figure out how that was a plus.