This excerpt is from Ch.6 Law of the Minimum, the Hygienic System, by Dr. Herbert Shelton . It's only one chapter and I think the information is extremely valuable to those trying to alkalize their diet.

http://www.soilandhealth.org/02/0201hyglibcat/020126shelton.orthotr...

"The amount of any given element available for utilization by the body depends, not alone upon the proportions of other elements present in the diet, but also upon other factors. The organic salts enter into important reciprocal relationships, especially in the work of secretion, but also in the process of synthesizing new organic compounds, so that we are concerned with both a qualitative and a quantitative minimum. If an element is being fed in quantities that are adequate per se, but some other and antagonistic substance is also being given, the quantity of the first is thereby rendered inadequate. An adequate amount of calcium, for example, would be rendered inadequate by the medical administration of acids, or by acid fermentation in the digestive tract. The calcium would be exhausted in neutralizing the acids and little or none would be left for the body. An abundance of calcium coupled with a lack of sodium means trouble, for the sodium is essential to keep the calcium in solution."

I would say that dried figs and most leafy greens are pretty good daily sources of calcium and other alkaline minerals.

This excerpt is from Ch.7 Organic Foods:

http://www.soilandhealth.org/02/0201hyglibcat/020126shelton.orthotr...

"Organic salts are in the colloidal form. Colloidal iron or calcium or phosphorus are usable. Inorganic salts are crystaloids and are not usable. Crude minerals, after they have been organized by the plant kingdom into highly complex compounds, are assimilated and used by the body, but taken in their elementary state, are injurious, some of them even deadly poison, to the body. The plant takes the elements of the soil and synthesizes these into acceptable compounds. The animal is limited to these compounds."

this one is from the same chapter that pertains to your last question:

"Lime, or calcium, cannot be supplied to the body by feeding it crude rock lime or chalk. In such a form, lime is an irritant and a corrosive. In the "unslacked" form, it is highly destructive of the tissues of the body. Lime water, so often given to infants, is of no value to them and produces much injury. We must take this as it is supplied by plants."

also keep in mind: (few paragraphs after the last)

"There is no doubt that the inorganic salts of the drug store may be absorbed into the body more or less and, perhaps, some of them may be employed to a limited extent in such purely chemical processes as the neutralization of acids. But they cannot become parts of the teeth, muscles, nerves, blood or glands of the body."

Sorry I don't have any direct answers, but I find this info to be very useful, although some may disagree.

Bkrisp