Sometime during the 1400s, a potter in Germany purchased some inexpensive wood with which to fire his kiln. The wood was from crates in which fish had been salted. Not knowing that would have an affect on his pottery, the artisan went about bringing his kiln up to heat, throwing in the salted wood as needed. After the kiln cooled, the potter opened it. He expected to take out his pots, glaze them, and fire the pottery again, as usual.

Imagine his surprise when he found the stoneware completely finished with a beautiful clear glaze after just one firing! (Most pottery takes two firings: the first to "mature," or shrink, the pot, the second to mature the glaze on the pot. Otherwise, pot and glaze come out two different sizes because one is natural clay, the other is often chemical-based, and the shrinkage rate differs.) The potter figured out what he'd done differently–fired the kiln with salt-impregnated wood. Liking the result, he tried it again during his next firing, and began refining the process. Other potters learned the technique from him, and it spread across Europe. When colonists first came to the eastern shores of this country, they brought both salt-glaze stoneware as cooking utensils and the unique process for making it with them.