SEA SALT | master-salt

SEA SALTS

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The salt water is withdrawn far into the pure ocean.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.

Tasmanian [Island] Sea Salt, Australia

Tasman Sea Salt contains an abundance of naturally occurring trace minerals derived from the pristine nutrient rich waters of the east coast of Tasmania, Australia. Rich in potassium with lower levels of sodium than many other salts, Tasman Sea Salt contains all the goodness that nature intended.

Tasman Sea Salt is situated on the border of the Southern Ocean, the cleanest ocean in the world. Harvested from this pristine sea water, Tasman Sea Salt does not need to be cleaned or rinsed during harvesting. Nothing is added and nothing removed except fresh water, meaning all the trace minerals and nutrients found in the ocean remain in the salt, providing for a salt with an incredible depth of flavour that also has added health benefits. Tasmania is Australia’s southern most state, with nothing but ocean between it and Antarctica. The seas around Tasmania are some of the cleanest and most nutrient rich waters in the world and it is this unique combination which gives Tasman Sea Salt flakes their great taste and incredible depth of flavour. Packed full of the sea minerals and nutrients that are found naturally in these waters, Tasman Sea Salt contains all the goodness that nature intended.

Antarctic Water Sea Salt, South Africa

Our Atlantic Ocean source of sea salt is free from the effects of heavy industry, with the Benguela current coming from the Antarctic. Our pristine ±400 year old brine is pumped from an underground seawater lake (Aquifer) on the shores of St. Helena Bay, where the sea water filters through beds of sand and shell, providing additional calcium. This pure brine has a most distinctive and memorable taste.

The sea water is pumped into a series of pans where the salt concentration increases as it moves from pan to pan. Once it nears saturation point a small amount is pumped to the specials pans.

Hand harvesting for the general sea salt is usually done twice a week. Staff use long handled rakes and stainless steel mesh skimmers, bending over the shallow rectangular pools of seawater, dense with salt, drawing the crystals to the sides of the pans.

For “Fleur De Sel”, the cream of the saltpan, the employees skim the sheets of white mica-like crystals from the water of the small pans and lay them gently in trays to dry in the sun. These neonate crystals, shaped like large glittering dragonfly wings, float only for a few hours and must be skimmed quickly and daily, before they precipitate to the bottom.

The bottom layer of the salt pans are left untouched and as a result the traditional Sea Salt, Fleur de Sel, Caviar and Flakes are of an unparalleled whiteness. After, the sea salt is placed in gauze lined baskets to dry in the sun.

All our varieties of sea salt are unrefined and packaged straight from the pans with their mineral content intact.

Hand-harvested sun-dried sea salt is not ‘refined’ in any way and contains a great variety of minerals. Some of these, such as magnesium, calcium and iron, are particularly good for health and occur in relatively high concentrations in natural sea salt.

The hand harvested sea-salts remain pure and unprocessed containing all the natural minerals and trace elements and does not contain artificial additives nor anti-caking agents.

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.

Welsh 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.

India Sun Flake Sea Salt

Our Indian sun flakes are extracted from a salt dome located in seawater, in north-east India. For our sun flakes, pure and clear seawater from the Indian Ocean is pumped into evaporation basins. On warm and windy days, the evaporation of the seawater causes small salt flowers to form on the surface of the water, resembling a fine layer of ice. This moist Fleur de Sel is skimmed by hand using a wooden spoon.

In order to turn the moist Fleur de Sel into our snow-white solar flakes, the freshly harvested salt is dried under glass plates and under the influence of the sun. The result is white and very dry salt flakes.

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, 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.

Île de Ré [Island], Sea Salt, France

The History of Salt on the Ile de Ré began at the end of the Middle Ages when the Monks of the Abbey of Saint Michel en l'Herm in Vendée came to exploit the lands given by Alexander the Great at the beginning of the 11th century by installing salt marshes there. Our Sea Salt is harvested in our salt marsh in Ars en Ré in a traditional way according to the principle of evaporation in the open air.

Our ancestral activity is entirely manual and depends essentially on climate and weather conditions. The harvest takes place in summer because we have the need for the sun and its heat to optimize the appearance of precious crystals. After natural drying with sun and by the wind, the salt is sorted manually in order to eliminate any natural impurities (clay, wild grass, insects, seafood, shells). It does not undergo any transformation or refining, thus retaining all its benefits of natural minerals and trace elements that compose it. Fruit of the ocean, the sun and the wind.

A natural food product, rich in magnesium and trace elements.

The Fleur de Sel from Ile de Ré is delicately “picked” in summer from the surface of the bathing areas. It appears at the end of the afternoon when the evening breeze penetrates the pools heated by the sun's rays, thus causing a temperature difference. It forms a layer of fine crystals like a veil above the salt marsh. It is then that the salt worker, using a "lousse", begins his daily manual work.

"My salt is 100% natural, raw, harvested using ancestral methods. From harvesting to packaging everything is done manually, nothing mechanical, therefore zero carbon emissions. It comes from plot 35 Prize de la Chabossière in Ars en Ré, Terroir de l'Ile De Ré, which I restored in 2016. The salt marsh is exploited today as did Ernest Caillaud" my predecessor who died in 1953. I wanted to pick up the story where it left off and pay tribute to Ernest and his family. My approach is independent, my salt is not in a cooperative. It is harvested, above all with passion and all my love! 100% Authentic.”

~Cyril, le Sel d’ Ernest

Fiji Island Sea Salt, Fiji Islands

Pure sea water from the open Pacific evaporates in the warm Fijian sun and gentle island breeze to create crunchy crystals of gourmet salt which contain nothing but 100% ocean goodness. Handcrafted sea salt. No additives, no processing, no waste, no footprint. Just sea, sun, wind and a lot of love. Seawater is collected from the deep ocean beyond the Malolo barrier reef, then brought back to the salt farm. It is then placed in custom built wooden salterns, which catch sun and wind to evaporate away the water and leave the salt behind. It takes time, up to two weeks, and the yield is modest, but the emphasis is on quality. The crystals are collected by hand, and dry further in the sun, before being sorted and packed, again by hand. To ensure optimum purity, the seawater goes through a three stage filtration process. Skilled artisan salt makers use age old techniques to ensure South Seas Salt retains the minerals of the sea.

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; 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 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 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.

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.

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, Gran Canaria, Canary Islands, Spain

This saltworks are more than 100 years old, they were built at the end of the 19th century, around 1889, in full saline boom of the southwest coast. The “ancient clay saline model” is one of the few salt flats of Gran Canaria that preserves intact its classical construction of yesteryear, its primitive walls, centenary staves of storage, crystallization and vaporization of salt, its channeling of its clean waters from the sea.

Sea water, rising and falling with its tides. The earth, the mud from the walls and the impermeable clay that preserves the ponds of all strange infiltration. The air, which with the energy of its winds successively accompanies the evaporation. And finally the fire, the sun without which this landscape could never have formed. The production is completely conditioned by the weather, the great human adventure to domesticate the four elements: sea, land, air, fire

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 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 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

We are 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.

Our 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.

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.