Sal Traditional I Hand harvested sea salt

Our Sal Tradicional, the traditional Portuguese sea salt, is extracted in the salt works of the Algarve coast. These are located in the nature reserve Ria Farmosa, far from industry and large settlements. In order to obtain the best sea salt, clean water, sun, wind and a lot of experience are needed. And there is plenty of experience in salt mining in southern Portugal. Already the Phoenicians began more than 2000 years ago with the extraction of salt from the Atlantic Ocean, the Romans continued the traditions and improved the techniques, today´s Salineiros have perfected the old craft methods. And so, until today, fresh Atlantic water is conducted into the artificially created, low evaporation basins. Sun and wind let the water evaporate slowly, salt crystals develop. The salt crystals are harvested with long wooden rakes, called ¨Rodos¨ by the salt farmers, and dried by the sun at the edge of the basins. The salt harvest is reduced to the summer months until about mid-September. The Sal Traditional is mild and rich in minerals and is not subject to any refining processes.