Mola salsa
"Mola" means "mill", "millstone", and by extension, "flour". "Salsa" is the matching bit of the adjective "salsus" meaning "salted". So mola salsa is "salted flour". But just as mola means flour by extension, so too could we conjecture that cakes made from mola salsa would also bear the name "mola salsa". I suggest that "mola salsa" can mean "salted flour" and the cakes made from it.
For our honored ancestors, fully aware of the uses, there would have been no confusion. When we read of mola salsa "sprinkled" I imagine the salted grain. If it is "offered", it could be either, I suppose. I suggest that we have to look at the sources and see what light can be shed.
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Making mola salsa
Salt was used for purification, and also for making mola salsa, ("MOW-la SAWL-sa"- a purified cake made with a mixture of flour, water and salt.) To make Mola Salsa with salt from the Salinum, mix a small portion of spelt flour with a small amount of water until it becomes a paste. Add some salt and 'knead' it a bit with your fingers. Flatten it into small, round wafer-like cakes, the thinner the better. The cakes can be burned in the Turibulum as an offering to the Gods.
Uses of mola salsa
Mola salsa was offered to Vesta both at home lararia and also by the Vestal Virgins on behalf of Rome itself.
