SEA SALTS
Pure Sea Salt, New Zealand
Certified organic in New Zealand, this versatile salt is harvested from the ultra pure waters of the Southern Ocean using a natural process of sun and wind. A high magnesium and calcium content gives this salt a clear, pure taste. The currents sweep up the East Coast of New Zealand and into the Solar Salt field located right at the top of the South Island.
Bonaire Sea Salt, Bonaire, Caribbean
After Columbus lost in 1495 his exclusive rights to explore the New World, the Caribbean became open territory. Alonso de Ojeda and Amerigo Vespucci (from whom the Americas derive their name) were among the first to take advantage of this: in 1499 they landed on Bonaire and claimed it for Spain.
Although the small island of Bonaire, lacked many of the resources that made other Caribbean colonies prosperous, however it did have one precious commodity… SALT! This valuable salt was a necessary ingredient for preserving meat and fish.
In the late 1620's, the Spanish had cut off the supply of this essential mineral to the Dutch (used mainly for salting herring fish). A few years later, the Dutch captured Curacao, Bonaire, and Aruba and gained valuable control of Bonaire's salt pans. While Curacao emerged as a center of the slave trade, Bonaire became in 1633 a plantation of the Dutch West India Company. A small number of African slaves were put to work on Bonaire cultivating dyewood, maize and also harvesting solar salt. They were joined by a few remaining Indians and convicts. Slave quarters, rising no higher than a man's waist, still stand along the saltpans as a grim reminder of Bonaire's repressive past.
History tells us that ‘production’ of salt started in 1636 and over the next two centuries the salt industry on Bonaire expanded. First under the Dutch West India Company and then under direct governmental control. By 1837 Bonaire's salt production had grown so large that four obelisks were built near the Salt Lake to guide ships coming in to load. The obelisks were painted red, white, blue, and orange, the colors of the Dutch flag and the Royal House of Orange, to direct ships which came to load salt, to the appropriate pan and which names we still use!
Finally the slavery was abolished in 1862 and in the middle of the nineteenth century, the salt industry on Bonaire fell into sharp decline. The abolition of slavery and increased international competition reduced its profitability.
Nevertheless, with a comfortably dry climate and steady trade winds, Bonaire has always been recognized as an ideal location for the production of salt. For over three centuries, the island's culture and prosperity was dependent upon this most important of the world's spices. Today, about 22% of the Bonaire surface is used for the process of evaporation of sea water, a process in the hands of professionals and safely adopted in the fragile environment of Bonaire. The stunning colored salt pans are also home to one of the hemisphere's great populations of Flamingoes!
Piran Adriatic Sea Salt, Slovenia, Eastern Europe
Hand gathered from salt pans located within the protected Secovlje Nature Park using 14th century methods, this 100% artisan salt, which was once the centerpiece of the medieval Venetian salt trade, is today deemed a protected national treasure and granted the prestigious D.O.P. status, (D.O.P stands for Denominazione Origine Protetta). In the abundance of different kinds of high-quality salts, Piran salt is one of the most prominent as it is cultivated according to the method of more than 700 years ago.
The Sečovlje salt pans are the northernmost still functioning salt pans in the Mediterranean area and one of the few salt pans in the world where salt is produced after several centuries-old processes originating from at least the 14th century. Their speciality is that the salt pan workers cultivate petola (a 2 cm thick layer of algae, gypsum and minerals) at the bottom of the crystallization ponds.
This is a biosediment which prevents the sea mud merging with the salt and gives the salt numerous microelements and minerals necessary for the human organism. It is cultivated completely through natural crystallization using their bare hands, using the tools and procedures of their ancestors. During salt-making, traditional tools are used. The produced salt is raked with wooden scrapers into heaps on slopes with natural inclination for the surplus water to trickle away. Dry salt is then gathered manually, transported with little wagons and stored in special depots.
Halen Mon Flake Sea Salt, Wales, UK
Harvested from the clean Atlantic waters surrounding the Welsh island of Anglesey using a combination of traditional methods and cutting-edge technology, Halen Môn is the only producer of organically certified sea salt in the United Kingdom.
Arabian Sea Yellow Sea Salt, India
Monsoon rainwater collects underground where carotene secreted from Algae in the water gives this salt its unique light and delicate pale yellow color. It is harvested by hand and then left under the hot Indian sun to evaporate..
Atlantic Sea Salt, Portugal
This sea salt is harvested by hand every 10-14 days with wooden rakes in traditional salt gardens. Sun-dried and gently ground, sea salt from the Eastern Algarve / Portugal is a handmade sea salt certified CERTIPLANET, kosher and vegan. It is naturally low in sodium and, confirmed by extensive analysis, of the highest purity.
Gathered by hand from saltpans in the protected nature reserves of the Ria Formosa and Sapal do Castro Marim on the Atlantic coast of Portugal’s East Algarve.
Natural salt crystallisation, the purity of local Atlantic waters, and a traditional hand harvesting process dating back to Roman times enable us to produce sea salt completely naturally.
After skimming, the delicate Flor de Sal crystals are carefully placed in specially designed storage boxes to dry in the sun, and to minimize disturbance to the flakes before final packing. Sal tradicional is put into large bags before it is transported to our warehouse in Olhão.
At the warehouse, impurities are removed by hand from both the Flor de Sal and the traditional sea salt 'Sal Tradicional'. Flor de Sal is packed without further processing, whereas Sal tradicional is milled prior to packing.
No Artificial Processing
Traditional sea salt is a truly natural sea salt, gathered from the bottom of the saltpans. After harvest, the crystals are not subjected to any artificial processes:
• The Algarve’s hot, dry summers guarantee natural evaporation by the sun and the wind – no need to heat the brine artificially.
• Gravity carries the brine from the evaporation ponds to small crystallisation pans – no need to pump the brine mechanically.
• Traditional sea salt 'Sal Tradicional' is skilfully harvested – no need to wash the crystals after harvesting.
• The salt is left to dry in the Algarve sunshine – no need for artificial drying.
Free from additives.
Sustainable Source
The reason we harvest our traditional sea salt this way is not just nostalgic. Traditional methods of gathering salt create a very small ecological footprint. The business is run in partnership with local saltpan producers, and together they help to conserve the saltpans, natural estuaries, and the Atlantic coastline within the Ria Formosa and Castro Marim nature reserves. In addition, this economic activity creates alternative employment opportunities in a region typically dominated by tourism.
Subtle Taste
Harvested by hand in the summer months. Its crystals are allowed to grow for two to four weeks in the concentrating brine, which makes the salt rich in minerals such as calcium, potassium, and magnesium.It keeps its natural moisture, the so-called ‘mother liquor’. This preserves minerals and essential elements contained in the natural sea salt.
Ibiza Sea Salt, Ibiza, Baleares, Spain
For over 2,700 years, a sea-salt of premium quality has been harvested in the saline fields on the Mediterranean island of Ibiza. The island's inhabitants have always been and still are very proud of their wholly-natural marine salt, regarded as one of the best of its kind. Ibiza salt is a superb table salt product, made of 100% sea-salt of the highest possible quality. Ibiza salt is harvested exclusively in the nature reserve “Parc natural de ses Salines d’Eivissa”. It contains no additives or preservatives, nor does it undergo any form of refinement other than slow drying under the sun and gentle grinding in ancient stone mills, enabling this Ibiza salt to retain its more than 80 vital minerals and trace-elements.
Produced solely using traditional artisan methods and dried by the sun.
Celtic Sea Salt, France
Produced since Celtic times (and also known as Celtic Sea Salt) this versatile and well-known salt has a mild taste and high mineral content. Certified organic in France, the salt's grey color comes from the natural clay that lines the beds of the revered Brittany salt pans where it is harvested. The acids in the clay soil purify the seawater in a natural way and the salt is created with more minerals from the clay bottom than that of a sandy bottom salt pan.
Brittany as the least polluted seacoast and the Celtic method as the best for harvesting of natural salt for the following reasons:
1) This coastline has almost no industry and no large cities.
2) The prevalent wind dries and crystallizes the salt very rapidly, thus minimizing the accumulation of particulate matter.
3) The deep offshore drop and continental shelf create upwellings that bring minerals from great ocean depths. The resulting salt contains rare trace elements in a very energetic mix.
4) There are abundant and varied beds of seaweeds and micro-algae that contribute to the biologically rich make-up of the shore, and therefore of the salt.
5) The art of Celtic salt-making has been passed down in this place for literally a hundred generations offering a superior philosophy and mastery of the craft.
Fiji Island Sea Salt, Fiji Islands
The Fiji Islands are some of the most remote on Earth, and as a result have one of the most pure, unpolluted ecosystems on Earth. Harvested from apple-green Fijian reefs, then solar dried on pristine beaches under the island sun. A 2,200 acre organically certified private island with nutrient-rich volcanic soil in the Fiji archipelago. The geographical isolation, far from the tumult and pollution of the mainland, allows us to maintain the purity of our products. Our large, sparkling crystals retain vitamins and minerals lost in regular salt. No preservatives. No additives. Bio Gro Certified Organic (New Zealand), Kosher certified, Vegan, Non-GMO.
Icelandic Sea Salt, Iceland
A beautiful salt crafted by master salt makers using traditional 17th Century Icelandic methods updated with a modern twist.
In the northern part of Iceland, the westfjords, on the Reykjanes peninsula is the Greenland Sea, one of the purest atlantic waters.
By outfitting old abandoned fish farms with futuristic technology and utilizing the power of a geyser in production, Saltverk is the world’s first geothermally produced salt. The result is ethereally light and crunchy flakes, high in essential minerals with an unusually high level of purity.
Pangasinan Sea Salt, Philippines
Hand-crafted in small batches during a very short season from the clear waters of Pangasinan province by artisan salt-makers with generations of experience. This is a beautiful, full-bodied finishing salt that gets its pale pink color from the Sugpo Shrimp that inhabit the salt ponds and a unique effect on the palate which derives from a rare combination of both fleur de sel flakes that melt in the mouth and hollow, geometric crystals.
Norwegian Sea Salt, Gossen Island, Norway
We are a family business on the island Gossen in the northwest of Norway. Our goal is to revive and reinterpret Norway`s century-old production of one of the world`s most important minerals - Sea Salt. Building on traditions from the Viking Age, North Sea Salt Works produces sea salt of the highest purity and outstanding taste using 100% renewable energy and sustainable production processes. Our unique brand of sea salt flakes - HAVSNØ is derived from the cool, pure seawater of Saltsteinsleia in the Norwegian Sea. The mineral content of the cool and pure sea water makes the crystalline, white flakes of Havsnø smooth and soft with a slightly crispy consistency. The salt has a strong salty, but pure taste, without being bitter - this is due to the natural trace elements.
North Sea Salt Works manufactures sea salt of the highest purity and outstanding taste, using 100% renewable energy and sustainable production processes, based on Viking traditions.
New Zealand Sea Salt, Clifford Bay
Everything a good sea salt needs can be found in New Zealand and Clifford Bay: lots of sunshine, warm winds and clear, clear sea water. Strong ocean currents permeate the deep, clear waters of New Zealand. The lagoon in Clifford Bay is a geographic blessing. Antarctic purity with all its many minerals is found again in the delicate Clifford Bay sea salt flakes. A real sea salt is natural and free of any additives. The next significant land mass is the Antarctic. The current flows from the South Pole through the Clifford Bay and brings pure, clear sea water. On board are all the natural minerals and trace elements that our body loves and health too.
Salt from the purest waters in the world. A sea salt of the highest purity. It contains essential minerals and trace elements such as iron, magnesium, potassium, selenium.
Icelandic Sea Salt #2
In all our processes and at all stages of our salt making, we use geothermal energy. Our production process involves a minimum of mechanical intervention and makes use of natural geothermal energy for heating the seawater, evaporating and drying the Nordur Salt flakes.
From the beginning, we have set a high bar in ensuring that our production facility is as environmentally friendly as possible. As far as we know, we are the only flake salt company in the world that uses geothermal energy to fuel our process. Our carbon footprint is virtually nil, something that we are especially proud of.
We start by filtering the seawater before it enters our evaporation tank to ensure the highest quality of the sea salt. In the filtering process only dirt and leftover seaweed is removed and the salt maintains its natural mineral content. We then lead geothermal hot water through the tank via a titanium heat exchanger while we constantly pump fresh seawater into it. Inside the tank, the seawater evaporates and the salinity level increases. When the brine has reached the right salinity level, it is transferred to open pans. It is slowly heated again using geothermal energy allowing the salt crystals to form as pyramids on the surface. The salt pyramids grow upside down and when they have reached a sufficient size they fall to the bottom.
At this stage, the true art form of our salt making begins; the human touch is a vital factor as the salt is hand harvested to precisely ensure the right taste and texture. Once the salt flakes have been raked from the pans, they are dried using geothermal heating. Then, it is on to the packaging stage and the salt flakes are ready to be enjoyed.
Atlantic Sea Salt, La Palma, Canary Islands, Spain
[Several kilos of the La Palma Salt were purchased before the volcanic eruption in 2022. Sadly, these coastal beautiful salt beds have been damaged by the volcanic residue and will take several years to recover. This salt will be replaced once it is finished].
The mud sticks to the rock to hold the crystalline waters of the Atlantic Ocean, of which small dense drops of salt are formed. Labyrinths of rock, where small mounts of salt are placed in the passageways between the crystallizing ponds.
On the bottom of the different basins and pans a variety of colours can be seen: pink, white, yellow…giving life to various small micro organisms and crustaceans such as Dunaliella salina and Artemia salina which attract migrating waders that feed in these waters: plovers, dunlins, sandpipers, turnstones, even flamingos and white shelducks have landed in this spot.
This magical spot, born in the arms of the volcanoes San Antonio and Teneguía is able to transform water into small diamonds; mud and stone into pink and white colours, forming a contrast with the darker shades of the volcanic soil; the wind into small whispers of energy that bring many birds a place to rest in the salt pans and the sun that goes up and down, bringing heat all day long.
The waters of the Atlantic, the heat of the sun, the volcanic soil and the trade winds are the four elements that play together to give life to the white, crystalline petals of the salt blossom, carefully collected in the traditional way. In this way the Salt Blossom, collected from the salt pans of Fuencaliente is presented to the world. A flower born at dusk.
At dusk in the warm summer days when the trade winds retreat towards the ocean, the fine layers of salt are collected before they can sink to the bottom. This needs a lot of care by the person who collects it and a tool, called a “cedazo” in the shape of a large sieve. This way we can preserve the valuable qualities of this blossom: all the minerals and trace elements that the sea brings forth. The main asset of this product is its low content of sodium and high content of magnesium, giving it a special, softer taste.
Atlantic Sea Salt, Lanzarote, Canary Islands, Spain
On the steepest and wild coast of Lanzarote, beaten by the strong waves of the southwest of the island, burned by the sun and caressed by the trade winds, the thin sheets of iridescent crystals of the Fleur de Sal de Janubio are obtained, following traditional methods and handcrafts of an active salt mill since 1895. The volcanic nature of the enclave, at the foot of the Timanfaya National Park, gives this saline product a deep and evocative marine flavor.
For more than a century, water from the Atlantic Ocean and the sun are the two ingredients used in the Salinas de Janubio to produce sea salt by artisanal methods, resulting in, at the same time, a landscape that is considered an authentic garden of salt.
Atlantic Sea Salt, Fuerteventura, Canary Islands, Spain
Large salt flakes with relatively high residual moisture. The perfect salt; you can still feel the sea while grinding the crystals.
The pure sea salt of Fuerteventura is completely natural. Without additives, only sun wind and sea are the ingredients for the sea salt of the Canaries.
The quality of the salt that we obtain is due to several factors: the quality and purity of the water that bathes the island, the unrepeatable characteristics of the old structures of the antique salt flats and the traditional Canarian extraction system.
The island of Fuerteventura is a Biosphere Reserve, which guarantees environmental controls that contribute to maintaining the purity of marine water. The quality of the water allows the existence of natural elements that contribute to enrich our salt in a natural way. We have a very peculiar water catchment system, which has worked for centuries: the Saltadero. Thanks to this system, the water enters the circuit of the salt flats only by the force of the tides: the waves break in the overflow and the sea foam falls inside. It is precisely in the sea foam where we find a higher proportion of trace elements in seawater.
The salineros collect the sea salt with their own hands, with the same daily batting system of the ponds that they used to centuries ago in the Canarian salt flats. This prevents the growth and densification of the salt, and a smaller grain size is achieved that facilitates a greater incorporation of trace elements. Its particular traditional extraction system favors the conservation of all the natural qualities of sea salt, resulting in a salt with more magnesium, zinc and calcium.
Salineros control the ideal concentration and drying times so that all the properties of the salt are maintained. The Majorero sun and the Canarian winds give us a white salt with the ideal humidity point and a perfect and harmonious balance in its rich composition.
Its traditional extraction system is based entirely on artisanal principles in which machines do not intervene.
Irish Sea Salt, Ireland
Irish Atlantic Sea Salt is based in a highly coveted location, with access to the Grade A quality waters of the Beara Peninsula. Lickbarrahan, where Irish Atlantic Salt is produced, sits on the most south westerly point of Ireland. The peninsula stretches out into the vast Atlantic Ocean, where the waters are notably unpolluted and crystal clear. Irish Atlantic Sea Salt is a high quality salt due to the quality of the sea water from which it is produced.
Table salt usually comes from salt mines or the sea and is a highly refined product. Table salt is extremely processed and contains additives such as aluminium (a toxic substance), drying agents and anti-caking agents. Table salt is produced by heating or scorching salt at a very high temperature to remove any moisture. Once the salt is scorched and all moisture is removed, what is left is an unnatural product that is hard on the body. Table salt can also be produced by a man made evaporation process involving intense heat and processing the salt crystals to reach a standard of desired quality. Anti caking agents, additives and preservatives are also added to the salt during this process. Iodine is usually added to table salt, the iodine that is added is usually synthetic, which can be difficult for our bodies to process.
Irish Atlantic Sea Salt on the other hand is unprocessed, unrefined and does not contain additives, preservatives or anti-caking agents.. The sea salt flakes are in an unprocessed form and as a result, retain vital trace elements that humans need, such as magnesium, potassium and calcium.
Galapagos Island Sea Salt
Sea salt is the common term for unrefined natural salt derived directly from a living ocean. Since each body of water has different amounts of trace minerals, every sea salt looks and tastes different. Pura Galapagos Salt is made of 100% sea salt, of the highest possible quality. It is harvested exclusively by Galapagos Safari Camp on the island of Santa Cruz in the Galapagos Islands, which lie in the Pacific Ocean 600 miles from the coast of Ecuador. The Humboldt Current, a major upwelling system and the most productive marine ecosystem in the world, comes up from the southern tip of Chile to drive the tide into natural pools, which then dry out in the intensity of the equatorial sun and wind over a period of five months. Our salt contains no additives or preservatives;, a pure and healthy sea salt requires nothing but sun, sea, and an ocean breeze to crystallize. The weather conditions must be just right, and the process can only be completed once a year.
Madagascar Sea Salt
From the salt marshes of Ifaty in Madagascar, the purity of this fleur de sel is exceptional: 100% natural, without any addition guaranteed. Its whiteness, its purity and its taste are the fruit of a craft.
Called “Africa in the Eyes of Asia”, Madagascar is an island of giant trees, strange animals and indigo blue lagoons. The Ifaty salt works are located in a small corner of paradise on the southwest of the island, far from any pollution. Semi-nomadic fishermen, the Vezo, lived there in symbiosis with the lagoon. Unfortunately, these “sea gypsies” have seen their resources diminish, and have turned towards developing salt, the other treasure of the sea.
The nectar of salt marshes, fleur de sel is white and pure. It is the fruit of delicate artisanal work and ideal climatic conditions that occur together in Madagascar—plenty of sun, sea, and wind.
It forms on the surface of clay ponds when the water evaporates under the combined action of the sun and wind.
The quality of fleur de sel depends on the manner in which it is harvested and the care that is taken with drying and storage.
In Ifaty it is harvested or, more precisely, gathered, by hand.
Bora Bora Island Sea Salt, Tahiti
A wonderful gift of the ocean comes from probably the most beautiful island in the world. Gently formed by the Polynesian Mara’amu wind. Smoothly dried by the South Pacific sun. Carefully and lovingly sorted by hand.
Nowadays, the production site is located on Motu Temahu (small Temahu island) in the beautiful lagoon of Bora Bora.
The salt water is withdrawn far into the pure ocean. The nearest civilization is thousands of miles away which means the water is extremely clean and pure and so is the salt. It contains a lot of minerals and trace elements which are essential for the proper functioning of the human organism.
Bora Bora sea salt is produced by a local family who live near the sea salt production site and constantly monitor its quality. Bora Bora sea salt is 100% natural, artisanal and harvested by hand. Bora Bora Sea Salt is HACCP (Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point) certified.