Blessed salt has been used in various forms throughout the history of Christianity. Among early Christians, the savoring of blessed salt often took place along with baptism. In the fourth century, Augustine of Hippo named these practices "visible forms of invisible grace". However, its modern use as a sacramental remains mostly limited to its use with holy water within the Anglican Communion and Roman Catholic Church.

2 Kings 2, (2 Kings 2:19–22) narrates how prophet Eliseus poured salt onto Jericho’s springs to cure the poisoned waters.

For centuries since Jesus, salt cleansed and sanctified by special exorcisms and prayers, was given to catechumens before entering a church for baptism. According to the fifth canon of the Third Council of Carthage in the third century, salt was administered to catechumens several times a year, a process attested to by Augustine of Hippo (Confessions I.11). Two specific procedures, namely a cross traced on the forehead and a taste of blessed salt, not only marked the entrance into the catechumenate, but were repeated regularly. By his own account, Augustine was “blessed regularly with the Sign of the Cross and was seasoned with God's salt.”

Early in the sixth century, John the Deacon explained the use of blessed salt, “so the mind which is drenched and weakened by the waves of this world is held steady”. Salt continued to be customarily used during the scrutinies of catechumens or the baptism of infants.

The earliest extant prayers for blessing salt and water date from Merovingian France, sometime between 600 and 751.

In recent times, the use of blessed salt is found within some Catholic and Anglican liturgies of Holy Baptism, and in the blessing of holy water, sometimes called lustral water. The Anglican Missal, used by some Anglo-Catholics, in The Order of Blessing Water, includes an English translation of traditional prayers for the exorcism and blessing of salt. The Collect reads:

Almighty and everlasting God, we humbly beseech thy infinite goodness, that thou wouldest vouchsafe of thy mercy to ble+ss and sanct+ify this thy creature of salt, which thou hast bestowed for the necessities of mankind: let it be profitable for all them that receive it for their healing both in body and soul: and grant that all such things as are touched or sprinkled with the same may be delivered from all uncleanliness, and defended against the assaults of all spiritual wickedness. Through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

In the section on Occasional Offices of the Book of Common Prayer, the following prayer, given under the rite for Blessing of Holy Water is said before the holy water is blessed and “salt is put into the water in the form of a cross”: