The days when we knew only two types of salt: the course and the fine, are gone. All new types of it appear on the shelves of our stores, including the famous French Fleur de Sel.
Its name is translated as a “salt flower”. It is rightly considered the most delicious salt. The crystals of this salt are so thin and fragile that, unlike usual, they do not even harm the tooth enamel. Even a pinch or two of Fleur de Sel can make the aroma and taste of any dish more subtle, refined.
From time immemorial it has been extracted from salt ponds in Guérande on the shores of French Brittany. Salt crystals form a thin on the surface of the sea water under the heat of the sun, a thin layer of the salt is removed manually with special tools so that the salt does not have time to sink to the bottom.
This salt is expensive. First, natural conditions are necessary for its formation: the sun, a weak wind, low humidity. Secondly, it is extracted by hands. In addition, only a few tons of such salt are collected, which do not cover the demand.
Fleur de Sel is of two types collected in different ponds: the gray one, more precisely, with a grayish tint, and the white one. Connoisseurs prefer the gray because the clay particles and algae growing in these ponds provide the unique aroma of this salt.
The salt of the same type is also mined in several other places in France, in Portugal, Madagascar, Mallorca.
Photo by Pixabay from Pexels
