salt dips

until i came to new york i had never seen those little knickknacks people fill with salt and put on the table . i actually thought that frum people were very creative in using little knickknacks to put salt in so people can dip their bread in during hamotzi. last week my naivete ended. i went to fish's eddy near union square and saw these little knickknacks for sale in a bin marked salt dips. apparently, dating back to the early 1800's , there used to be a custom of dipping ones bread in to salt , thus necessitating the creation of knickknacks otherwise known as salt dips.