Sea salt is a broad term that generally refers to unrefined salt derived directly from a living ocean or sea. It is harvested through channeling ocean water into large clay trays and allowing the sun and wind to evaporate it naturally. Manufacturers of sea salt typically do not refine sea salt as much as other kinds of salt, so it still contains traces of other minerals, including iron, magnesium, calcium, potassium, manganese, zinc and iodine. Proponents of sea salt rave about its bright, pure, clean flavor, and about the subtleties lent to it by these other trace minerals. Some of the most common sources for sea salt include the Mediterranean Sea, the North Sea, and the Atlantic Ocean (particularly in France, on the coast of Brittany). Sea salt is thought to be healthier and more flavorful that traditional table salt. Available in coarse and fine grain.
MALDON SEA SALT Company stands on what is believed to have been the site of a medieval salt works.
Legend has it that the secret of salt making was discovered during the period when the Romans ruled Britain 2,000 years ago.
Cassius Petrox, then commander of the Roman Legion in Maldon, took regular hot seawater baths. During the preparation of one of these baths the water kept boiling too long, as a result he noticed that there were small white crystals in the bottom of the bath, these crystals turned out to be flakes of salt. He had inadvertently discovered a method for producing salt from seawater.
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