Flor de Sal and Sal Tradicional
What is it?
Flor de Sal are the salt crystals that float on top of the water in open air salt tanks. Sal Tradicional is the salt that is left when the sea water evaporates.
Where is it produced?
Tavira
How is it produced?
From traditional salterns in the Ria Formosa and Sapal do Castro Marim nature reserves. Hand-harvested and sun-dried with no machines. The salt is derived simply from evaporation by the sun and the wind.
What makes it special?
Highly prized in culinary circles, it’s a soft waxy salt that has all the minerals from the sea - especially magnesium and calcium - as it is 100% natural.
How/where would you use it?
For the Flor de Sal, sprinkle over anything after cooking to lift the flavours - for example carpaccios, steaks, fish, etc. It is in essence a finishing salt.
Very intense and special on fresh salads.
Sal Tradicional is for cooking, curing and grinding, for a more intense flavour.
Insider knowledge
The techniques used in Tavira go back thousands of years, to the Phoenicians.