How to make Salt: Fleur de Sel…Atlantique

Mastering the basics is a must for anyone who cooks: whipping up a béchamel, making mayonnaise, pastry, ragu, stock, bread, the list goes on…

One thing that is always overlooked and is perhaps the most frequently used ingredient of all time is salt. Without seasoning food would be dull. Too much is bad, not enough is disastrous. But how many people have actually made it themselves? It is so ludicrously simple to make: collect a jug of seawater, boil it and reduce it down till you are left with a white residue= salt. Done. I could end the post there…that is all there is to it. But to really sell it to you and hopefully urge you to give it a go yourself, I shall continue.

Salt is something that has been used for 1000’s of years, Sodium chloride has been found as far back as the Neolithic around 6000BC, mainly used in the context of preserving, but no doubt our ancestors found it had the ability to heighten the flavour of whatever they were eating. Along with fire, salt was probably man’s second greatest discovery.

The basics are important, as any bushcraft nerd (ahem) will tell you, making fire by friction is about as fundamental as crafting bush can get…I would say that the kitchen equivalent of creating fire from a few sticks is equal to tasting your first flake of homemade salt. These two ‘fundamental skills’ actually came together on a regular basis during my time in the Cook Islands. Three months with no matches and no seasoning meant fire saws from bamboo at dawn and boiling gin-clear south pacific seawater was a daily occurrence. Salt intake was crucial for helping our bodies regulate water content in the searing heat just as much as bringing our meager rations to life on the palate.

I was allowed to take a luxury item to the islands with me, my first thought was spices…actually at first I thought salt would be most useful, until I realized I would be surrounded by it and settled on garlic powder and hot curry powder. After a bit of research I found out that the salt content of seawater is roughly 3.5%, hence every litre of seawater contains 35g of dissolved salts. And so it was every day or so someone on our island would be in charge of making salt, which ranged in colour from pure white to dusty grey depending who was making it, quite often it was grey on the days the girls made it as they were a little more preoccupied with the application of make-up or topping up their tan rather than making sure the salt didn’t burn…

It must be said that making salt from seawater can be touch and go, I’m not sure how pleasant a raw material murky brown English channel water would be to work with, I think the further west the better for clarity and piece of mind, lets just say I wouldn’t collect it off Brighton beach!  Out here in Hossegor the Atlantic is a pleasant shade of green and blue, but I have heard rumours of bad pollution- trust the French to dump all their shit in the sea and cover everything else in pee (what is it with their penchant for public urination?!!).

With this in mind, I felt a healthy 20 minutes of fierce boiling would at least kill any bacteria, but first I had to collect my said raw material. Below is a short video of how to make salt, collection of seawater not recommended the day after a big storm: see for yourself!

  

The whole process will take a couple of hours, boil down one litre until there is an inch of sea water left in the pan and then fill up the pan with a second litre. When there is a tiny bit of water left over the salt, add a few tbsp of tap water and then let it boil out. As you can see from the video, as more crystals form, you should reduce the heat gradually until ALL water has evaporated and the salt is completely dried out.

I can suggest no better way to enjoy it than on a freshly sliced tomato…try one without and one with just to see the difference a little seasoning makes. So, why not have a go at foraging your own salt? It can be done! 

 

Bunkers...rubbish German architecture.

Comments

[msmarmitelover]

Brilliant! Are you visiting my fave place, the ile de re? The salt is reknowned for it's taste of violets.

[Tamar@StarvingofftheLand]

So glad you're taking on sea salt! We make our salt over here on the other side of the Atlantic. I suppose it's possible that some of our water molecules have brushed by some of your water molecules.

Since salt is cheap and energy is expensive, we use the heat from our wood stove to evaporate the water. Just put the pan of water on the stove and, Voila!, sea salt in a matter of just a few days. We easily make 20 pounds a year.

If you're so inclined, you can read all about it at:

http://www.starvingofftheland.com/2009/02/09/she-steals-sea-salt-by-the-seashore/

One last thing: waders. You need waders.

[Diane]

I was going to say Ile de Re too - I loved the way that the French Graffiti had turned the bunkers into amazing works of art. Living in land locked South Yorkshire, Sea salts not all that practical, but I'll give it a go when we go camping next year. xxx

[Giles]

Finally a recipe I can make in tel aviv!!

[Nick Weston]

At last! Get busy giles...

To: [email protected]

[Nick]

Diane & MsMarmitelover- Not been to il de re, bit too far north am down near Bayonne- like the ham. Violet tasting salt? interesting. There isnt much out here the french wont graffiti!

Tamar- Good post...like the waders! I think doing it on a wood burning stove is way more economical, if only i had one here.

[Mike]

I am definitely going to give this a go: Had no idea it was so easy. Have you tried any flavoured salt?

[Sea Water]

I knew that salt can be made from sea water, but to do it yourself is really fascinating. I used to see sea water only as a holiday destination, but now I see it has more to offer to us.

[Swamp Thing]

Take a peek - the whole book is a ghastly 1100 pages or so - at Kurlansky's "Salt." You'll enjoy it, as you would likely enjoy his other books.

[Pandora Charms]

I'm interested in such offer,The sound quality in these podcasts is really poor. I feel bad about complaining about something that is free, but I think it is important.

[Chanel ipad leather]

I like the sound of all this except the oysters...allergic unfortunately! xxx