Product Description
Fleur de sel (“flower of salt” in French; is a salt that forms as a thin, delicate crust on the surface of seawater as it evaporates. Fleur de sel has been collected since ancient times (it was mentioned by Pliny the Elder in his book Natural History), although it was traditionally used as a purgative and salve. It is now used as a finishing salt to flavor and garnish food. The name comes from the salt’s faint aroma of violets
Fleur de sel (“flower of salt” in French; is a salt that forms as a thin, delicate crust on the surface of seawater as it evaporates. Fleur de sel has been collected since ancient times (it was mentioned by Pliny the Elder in his book Natural History), although it was traditionally used as a purgative and salve. It is now used as a finishing salt to flavor and garnish food. The name comes from the salt’s faint aroma of violets
Fleur de sel can only be collected when it is very sunny, dry, and with slow, steady winds. Because of the nature of its formation, fleur de sel is produced in small quantities. At Messolonghi Greece, each salt marsh produces only about one kilo (2.2 pounds) per day. Because of this and the labor-intensive way in which it is harvested, fleur de sel is the most expensive of salts.
Only about 5% of salt is used for cooking, but fleur de sel is only used to flavor food. It is not, however, used in place of salt during the cooking process. Instead, it is added just before serving, like a garnish, a “finishing salt,” to boost the flavor of eggs, fish, meat, vegetables, chocolate, and caramelSea salt has been gathered around the world for millennia, but over the last thousand years, fleur de sel was only harvested in France. Elsewhere it was collected and discarded. As the market for specialty salts has grown, companies have begun to harvest fleur de sel for export wherever the geographic and meteorological conditions are favorable
Greeks have harvested sea salt and fleur de sel (ανθος αλατιού) along the Mediterranean Sea sea coast, particularly the Mani Peninsula of Lakonia and Messolonghi, from ancient times.
