Fleur de sel ("flower of salt" inFrench;French pronunciation:[flœʁdəsɛl]) orflor de sal (also "flower of salt" inPortuguese,Spanish andCatalan) 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 byPliny the Elder in his bookNatural History), and was traditionally used as apurgative andsalve. It is now used as a finishing salt to flavor and garnish food.[1] The origin of the name is uncertain, but is perfectly in line with both meanings offleur:[2] flower, and the surface of something.[3] The salt crust forms flower-like patterns of crystals which may contribute to the name.
Fleur de sel is a highly sought after salt, used globally in high end kitchens due to its long-lasting flavor. Properly harvestedfleur de sel costs hundreds of times more than table salt due to the difficult-to-master harvesting technique and high demand globally.
One method of gatheringsea salt is to draw seawater intomarsh basins orsalt pans and allow the water to evaporate, leaving behind the salt that was dissolved in it. As the water evaporates, most of the saltprecipitates out on the bottom of the marsh or pan (and is later collected as ordinary sea salt), but some salt crystals float on the surface of the water, forming a delicate crust of intricate pyramidal crystals. This isfleur de sel. The delicacy requires that it be harvested by hand, so this is done with traditional methods using traditional tools. In France, the workers who collect salt are calledpaludiers,[4] and to collectfleur de sel they employ a wooden rake called alousse à fleur[5] to gently rake it from the water. In Portugal, a butterfly-shaped sieve called aborboleta is used instead.[6] It is then put in special boxes so that it will dry in the sun, and to avoid disturbing the flakes as it is transported for packaging. Historically, the workers who harvestedfleur de sel were women, because it was believed that as the salt crystals were so delicate, they needed to be collected by "the more delicate sex."[7] Because it is scraped from the salt marsh like cream from milk,fleur de sel has been called "the cream of the salt pans."[8] It is also called "the caviar of sea salts."[9]
Fleur de sel can be collected only when it is very sunny, dry, and with slow, steady winds.[6] Because of the nature of its formation,fleur de sel is produced in small quantities. AtGuérande,France, each salt marsh produces only about one kilo (2.2 pounds) per day.[7] Because of this and the labor-intensive way in which it is harvested,fleur de sel is the most expensive of salts.[10]
This method of salt formation and collection results in salt crystals that are not uniform. The salt also has a much higher amount of moisture than common salt (up to 10%[11] compare to 0.5% for common salt[12]), allowing the crystals to stick together in snowflake-like forms. other minerals, like calcium and magnesium chloride, give it a more complex flavor. These chemicals makefleur de sel taste even saltier than salt,[13] and give it what has been described as the flavor of the sea. Trace mineral content depends upon the location at which it is harvested, so the flavor varies with point of origin.
Fleur de sel is rarely the pure white of table salt. It is often pale gray or off-white from clay from the salt marsh beds. Sometimes it has a faintly pink tinge from the presence ofDunaliella salina, a type of pinkmicroalga commonly found in salt marshes.[14] However,fleur de sel from Ria Formosa[8] in Portugal is white.
Only about 5% ofsalt is used for cooking,[15] butfleur de sel is used only to flavor food. It is not 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 caramel.[7]
Sea salt has been gathered around the world for millennia, but over the last thousand years,fleur de sel was harvested only in France. Elsewhere it was collected and discarded. As the market for specialty salts has grown, companies have begun to harvestfleur de sel for export wherever the geographic and meteorological conditions are favorable.
Traditional Frenchfleur de sel is collected off the coast ofBrittany, most notably in the town ofGuérande (calledFleur de Sel de Guérande), but also inNoirmoutier, andÎle de Ré.[16]
Greeks have harvested sea salt andfleur de sel (ανθος αλατιού) along theMediterranean Sea coast, particularly theMani Peninsula ofLakonia[17] andMissolonghi, from ancient times.[18]
Flor de sal is harvested inPortugal, mostly in theAveiro District[19] and in theAlgarve,[20][21] but also in the salt marshes ofCastro Marim,[22] at the mouth of theGuadiana River that forms the border to Spain. Roman ruins nearRia Formosa specifically suggest that there has been a long history of sea salt production here. Before the invention of salt mining, Portugal's sea salt production helped to solidify its place as a world power.[20] However, when mechanical salt mining made salt inexpensive, demand for Portugal's sea salt dropped due to its expense. For centuriesflor de sal was scraped away and either discarded or given to workers, as its presence disturbed the evaporation that was creating the sea salt underneath.[23] The process of harvestingflor de sal for sale was reintroduced in 1997 by Necton, with a grant to develop ways to capitalize Portugal's natural resources.[8] Necton'sflor de sal is whiter than thefleur de sel from Guérande, and is said to have the more robust flavor of the Atlantic as opposed to Guérande's milder Biscay Bay flavor.[24] Due to Portugal's laws regarding the grading of salt, Necton'sflor de sal is exported to France and marketed by companies who also marketfleur de sel.[8]
Spain also produces high qualityflor de sal in the Ebro Delta on the mainland[25] and the Salinas d'Es Trenc on the island ofMajorca[26] and in the Salinas de la Trinidad in theEbro Delta.[27] Majorca has a long history of salt production, dating to the Phoenicians and the Romans,[28] but flor de sel was mostly kept for local use until Katja Wöhr arrived from Switzerland in 2002 and convinced local officials to allow her to harvest it in Es Trenc.[29] She worked with British chef Marc Fosh to develop mixtures offlor de sal with herbs and spice blends added, such as orange, lemon, black olive, lavender, rosemary, dried rose petals, curry spices, and beetroot.[30][31]
Spain'sCanary Islands are also a source offlor de sal. Saltworks have operated on La Palma and Lanzarote for centuries,[32] but theflor de sal that resulted was kept for the use of the workers until 2007, when the salt gained gourmet status. The culinary rediscovery offleur de sel and other gourmet salts has saved small scale artisanal saltworks in the Canaries, which were in rapid decline.[33]
Flower of salt is also produced inCroatia, where the harvesting of salt and flower of salt dates to ancient times, thanks to relatively highsalinity (3.5 B°; 1 m3 of seawater contains approximately 30 kg of sea salt)[citation needed] of sea water and favourable climate on the eastern coast of the Adriatic sea. Today, the largest producer of sea salt inCroatia is Solana Pag on the islandPag.[34]
Canada now produces high qualityfleur de sel from thePacific Ocean offVancouver Island.[35] The colder climate adds extra crunch and reduces the flakiness. Unlike traditional Europeanfleur de sel, which crystallizes naturally in the sun, Canadianfleur de sel makers heat their seawater to force evaporation.[36]
Mexico has produced both sea salt andflor de sal since Aztec times from the Lagoon ofCuyutlán on the Pacific Coast. There is also a museum in Cuyutlán, dedicated to the history and technique offlor de sal production.[37]
Flor de sal is also harvested along the beaches ofCelestun inYucatan,Mexico, where Mayans cultivated salt 1,500 years ago for its distribution throughout Mesoamerican trade routes extending to Guatemala, Central America and the Caribbean.[38]
Brazil started producingflor de sal in 2008 in the traditional salt-producing area ofMacau, in the state ofRio Grande do Norte.[39] The salt kept for use in Brazil is iodized though, as required by the Brazilian law for all salt intended for human consumption, but that intended for export is not.[9] The main producer is ArtSal - Flor De Sal.[40]
Because it is harvested naturally from the sea and is usually not refined,fleur de sel has more mineral complexity than common table salt. The following is a chemical analysis of Flos Salis, aflor de sal by Portuguese company Marisol:[22]
| Mineral | Quantity |
|---|---|
| Sodium chloride | 97% (in dry matter) |
| Moisture | 6.5% |
| Calcium | 0.1% |
| Magnesium | 0.4% |
| Potassium | 0.2% |
| Iron | 5 mg/kg |
| Insolubles | < 0.02% |
