Salmarim – Flor de Sal – Salt from the Algarve
Salmarim is the finest salt from the Algarve. Jorge Raiado, a successful building contractor and perfectionist, was looking for a new challenge in life in 2007, and he found it in the Sal de Vila nature reserve in the Algarve. There, in an idyllic setting not far from the Castro Marim fortress, old salt pans lay fallow, which had been flooded with seawater since Roman times to harvest sea salt and flor de sal. The tradition of harvesting flor de sal had almost fallen into oblivion in Portugal until then, and it meant a lot of hard physical work to recultivate the dilapidated pans of the salt works in order to harvest the best salt again, but it was worth it.
Flor del Sal – Salt Harvest at Salmarim
Today, Jorge harvests the finest salt using traditional methods. Every full moon, he floods his pans at the mouth of the Guadiana River with saltwater. Now, above all, patience is needed, because if there's one fundamental thing in salt production, it's time. And here in the south of Portugal, where the salt flower is harvested by hand, time passes calmly, and nature can do its work without haste. After about 14 days, when sun and wind work perfectly together and enough water has evaporated, the first salt crystals collect on the surface, and the salt harvest of the "salt blossoms," the fleur de sel or Portuguese flor de sal, can begin.
Skimming off this delicate salt crust at temperatures often reaching 35-40 degrees is not only physically very strenuous but also requires a lot of experience. If you wait too long because the weather isn't cooperating, the salt crystals become too large and sink as "sea salt" to the bottom of the shallow pans.
"I'm not interested in coarse salt; Salmarim stands for the best Flor de Sal," explains the sun-tanned Portuguese. "Industrially produced salt simply does nothing for a dish," Jorge explains. "It's so intense and sharp and suppresses the inherent flavor of the salted products." If you put some of his salt on, for example, a tomato and taste it, you experience an increase in flavor and aromas. "My salt makes the seasoned product the star." He is right.
