The Delicacy Of Sea Salt

Sea salt is now one of the most ubiquitous food items on the table nowadays.It went from being a gourmet prize to an almost everyday must. Many don't know that it was started in France and there are a dozen variations there. It is still considered gourmet there despite its' commonality.

Fleur de sel was the subject of an article in today's New York Times  Dining section. It was a dispatch  from Elaine Sciolino and her Letters From Paris column. She is lucky to rent a summer house on the Ile de Re, an island of the western coast of France. She was able to visit a salt farm where the Bay of Biscay's lush waters feed clay pools and create amazing salts.Seawater collects in ponds and breezes dry them. This is the seasoning that chefs the world over clamor for it.Ile de Re is one of the most used and most fragrant sel in the world.

The salt is created by the air drying the ponds. Fleur e sel is a mineral rich salt full of potassium, magnesium, iron an zinc an the taste is far from reflecting them.It has a sweet  flavor and an aroma like violets. It's harvested slushlike  and placed in wheelbarrows for extra drying. Most salt ponds are coated over with an icelike crust of salt. Salicorne or sea asparagus ,an edible green sea plant also grows along the ponds as well and is harvested too. It's also sold in French fish markets and greengrocers. Most slats are sol in cooperatives to be bought fresh. Some "rebels" sell their own privately mixing the salt with hot peppers for a neat spin. The salt is good for anything but also for crusting baked fish.It leaves behin a sweet, tender flesh.

Sea salt, despite its' popularity is still a gourmet item.It's a delightful gift from the sea that should be savored and enjoyed. Fleur de sel is what it is a true flower of the sea.