Salty Business
As the sultan of seasonings, artisan sea salt is a culinary trend influencing the textures and nuances of food in restaurants and home kitchens around the world. Sea salt adds a more complex flavour and a unique mouthfeel and aesthetic to a meal, with none of the additives or chemicals found in mass-produced salts. A relatively new West Coast endeavor, Vancouver Island-area sea salt producers are crafting local, sustainable seasonings that are uniquely British Columbia.
Flake Salt
Vancouver Island Sea Salt, in Oyster Bay, is known for its flake sea salt, fine sea salt and flavour infusions, like Barrel Smoked Whisky salt and Old School Coffee salt. “Flake salt is big, beautiful and pops when you bite into it,” says owner Scott Gibson. “It stays on the surface of food for longer and brings out that texture, so it’s a great product for finishing.”
Gibson and co-owner Andrew Shepherd began harvesting salt in Cobble Hill in 2009 but moved two years ago to a 400-acre farm in Oyster Bay with two kilometres of private ocean frontage, where they pipe seawater directly to their facility. “This is where the currents of the Georgia Strait meet currents from the north, converging and constantly refreshing the water,” Gibson explains. “We have a lot of oyster farmers nearby, and oysters are natural filters to the water. So, we believe we found the ideal location for harvesting salt and the best water source possible.”
Shepherd, previously a chef, returned to Canada from working overseas and realized that despite the large coastline of his home country, it wasn’t making its own sea salt. It was important to him to create a product using a process that would leave the smallest carbon footprint possible, and given the accessibility to cheap, green energy in B.C., Vancouver Island seemed like the perfect place to launch his sea salt business. “Our systems rely on hydro power and some natural gas, which has a very low [carbon] footprint compared to diesel or propane,” Gibson explains.
Flavour Infusions
In Sooke, SaltWest proprietors Jeff and Jessica Abel began selling their flavour-infused sea salts out of farmers’ markets before expanding their business in 2012. The company now sells a wide variety of locally sourced flavours like roasted garlic and onion, rosemary sage, lemon and dill, sweet smoky maple and applewood smoked sea salt, as well as innovative cocktail rimmers.
“I love working with our natural resources and creating something from our own backyard,” Jessica Abel reflects. “We’re proud to be able to offer something that’s local and that gives people a simple way to elevate their food.” But making high-quality sea salt on the West Coast doesn’t come without its challenges. “The Pacific Ocean has one of the lowest salinities out of all the world’s oceans,” she says. “We get 25% less salt per liter out of our waters [than other oceans] because of the freshwater infusion from the mountains and rivers.”
The Abels pump seawater to their facility and then filter it by using one of two desalination processes to concentrate the salt: by forced steam evaporation (more commonly used in cooler climates) or, by sun-drying (which produces larger crystals and retains more beneficial trace minerals) in custom greenhouses to emulate production in warmer countries, where sea salt is evaporated outdoors in large ponds.
Fleur de Sel
At Salt Spring Island Sea Salt, Carolyn Kvajic and Philippe Marill are dedicated to the craft of fleur de sel (“flower of salt”), which is a crystal that forms on top of the water during evaporation under the right techniques. Shaped like inverted pyramids, fleur de sel looks like little diamonds. Marill knew the product from his home country of France, where it is made via evaporation on salt flats. On Salt Spring Island, a much different environment, he created a technique to replicate that process in small batches in a controlled environment. “Fleur de sel is a finishing salt,” he explains. “Typically, folks add salt until every bite of food tastes good. With fleur de sel, the concept is to ensure that each bite is enhanced differently, so the taste is more of a rollercoaster of surprise.”
The couple uses infusions of locally sourced ingredients to flavour their salt, including blackberry, balsamic and charcoal fleur de sel. In addition to enhancing flavour, fleur de sel provides an aesthetically beautiful touch to a dish. Salt Spring Island Sea Salt produces natural and unrefined crystals that consist of pure sodium chloride and minerals. “Each infused sea salt has a distinct colour, taste and aroma, and pairs beautifully with different foods to elevate both taste and visual appeal,” Marill continues. “We are proud to transform regular Pacific seawater into a fleur de sel that rivals its French origins!”
Vancouver Island salt producers are making an impression on the salt industry, with products not only available locally and online, but in hundreds of retail stores around the world. With such a variety of unique combinations of local, sustainable sea salt available, it’s easy to add a distinctive burst of West Coast flavour to any dish.
West Coast Salt Producers
You can find sea salt from these three producers (and more) at grocery stores and markets across Vancouver Island and the Gulf Islands, or order online from their websites.
- Vancouver Island Sea Salt, Black Creek
- Salt Spring Island Sea Salt, Salt Spring
- Saltwest Naturals, Sooke
- Salt & Co., Gabriola Island
- Clever Crow Herbs and Spice, Black Creek
- Gathering Place Trading, Cortes Island
