Like us, our customers are very much aware of what they're putting into their bodies. We want to know where our food comes from, who made it, and how it was produced. And salt is no different. Like most things we eat, it comes from all over the world, is made by people from all walks of life, using many different production methods. Although we use hand-harvested sea salt from Portugal to make our products, we think it is important to understand the different types of salt so that we can appreciate ours even more.

Types of Salt

We've all seen the various salts on the market, but what is the difference between them all? They all seem to fit into one of three categories:

  • Table Salt is a typical evaporated salt product. Evaporated salt is made by boiling saturated brine (obtained from rock or solar salt, not directly from sea water) under a partial vacuum with steam heat, in enclosed vessels called vacuum pans. The brine is solution mined from underground rock salt deposits or it can also be made by dissolving rock salt or solar salt. The brine is purified and fed to large evaporators where salt crystallizes into granulated salt.

    Table salt can also be produced via solution mining. Solution Mining occurs when fresh and recycled water is injected through a well(s) drilled into an underground salt bed or dome, usually between 150-1,500 meters deep. Dissolution of the salt forms a void or cavern in the salt deposit. Salt brine is withdrawn from the cavern and transported by pipeline to an onsite evaporating plant to make dry salt or to a chemical processing plant for chlor-alkali or other chemical production.

  • Rock Salt is mined underground using 20 ft-wide shafts, which are drilled into a salt deposit that is 500 to 2,000 feet deep. The salt is mined by undercutting, drilling and blasting or with mining machines that use large cutting heads. The mined salt is crushed and screened to the desired size and hoisted to the surface in 20-ton skips. The salt is then packaged and shipped in bulk to the customer.

  • Solar/Sea Salt is produced using wind and natural sunlight to evaporate sea water that has been captured in large open ponds.

All salt is produced using one of these methods, but its what people do with it afterwards that makes the end-product unique. A majority of the salt that is produced is used to create common table salt, but there are also a lot of salt artisans out there who are doing some really cool things with salt. For example, smoked salts have been around for quite a while and the flavor they impart depends on the type of wood used. Some salts have dried herbs, lavender, and spices mixed into high-end French sea salt. At Spiceburst, we've taken it a step further and added FRESH ingredients to hand-harvested sea salt.

What We Use at Spiceburst

We use sea salt from the Algarve region of Portugal because we appreciate the Slow Food philosophy of the Necton company and we like the moist texture of their traditional sea salt. It is very similar in taste and texture to the French Fleur de sel, but the cost is slightly lower. In our home kitchen, we tend to use those brands that are as unrefined as possible with minimal processing. Most of the labels on salt will indicate as much, but the general rule is if the label doesn't mention the production method, its a safe bet the salt is heavily processed.