Salt. It’s the basis for almost everything we eat. It takes foods to new levels and makes me really happy.
When I first learned that you could make salt at home, I was immediately intrigued. I mean, who wouldn’t want to be able to create their own sea salt, from their very favorite beach? So when Alex and I took our trip up to Provincetown this fall, I decided to brave the chilly October ocean and collect sea water for some homemade sea salt.
I told everyone about my plans to venture into the cold ocean blue while on vacation and the response was pretty much unanimous: “You’re crazy,” everyone said, including my boyfriend. They wondered, “Why make your own salt when you can buy it for so cheap?” Well, why do we make homemade jams, pickles, breads, and cheeses? Because it tastes better. Plus, I just think making your own salt is pretty rad, and not everyone can say they make salt. So off to Herring Cove I went to collect four gallons of salt water.
The water was pretty brisk, to say the least, but it invigorated me. The thought of making my own salt seemed like an adventure. I almost felt like I was stealing a piece of the ocean and illegally transporting it over state lines back to New York. I loved every bit of it.
Upon our return to New York, I carefully carried my four gallons of coveted salt water up four flights of stairs to our apartment–talk about a work out.
I immediately began the boiling process, knowing it was going to take a few days. I first ran the salt water through a fine mesh strainer, layered with 5 sheets of cheese cloth to remove any grit and sand that might have gotten into it. I then transferred it to a large stock pot over high heat and let it simmer every chance I got.
It took me four days to get my water down to a consistency where I started to see some salt at the bottom of the pot. Every night I would come home from work and turn the stove on, waiting for the water to evaporate.
Then it finally happened. Large flakes of sea salt began to appear in the water until finally I was left with pillowy white salt crystals.
I was worried that I would burn the salt since there was only a little bit of moisture left so I put it on a sheet pan and placed it in the oven at the lowest setting for an hour, turning it every 10-15 minutes. When it was completely dried out I transferred it into jars and added it to my quickly growing homemade larder.
Making your own sea salt is definitely time consuming, but the results are absolutely fantastic. Four gallons of water left me with about 2 full cups of salt, which is way more than I expected to end up with. I probably won’t be using this salt to cook with, but definitely as a finishing salt for all my dishes.
This was surely a project I will continue every chance I am near the ocean. I have dreams of collecting salt from every beach I visit and naming each variety appropriately.
What do you think–will you be making sea salt on your next vacation?
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{ 22 comments… read them below or add one }
AWESOME!!!!!!! Love the story, the process, the pictures- congrats on the success!
How awesome! Wishing I lived near the ocean right now!
wow so cool. I had no idea you could make salt like this. Were you concerned with any pollution from the water contaminating the salt or does the boiling and heating of the water kill all the germs?
I was wondering the same thing… Boiling (and the fact that the finished product is pure salt) would take care of germs, but it wouldn’t necessarily do anything for chemical pollutants. I suppose some might evaporate, but probably not all.
Pollutants are definitely something to think about. However, unless you are consuming really large amounts of this salt on a daily basis, I don’t think there is anything to worry about. Of course, I would try and collect from the cleanest beach you can find
How awesome is that!!! Way to go =o)
ooooh I am so doing this the next time I go to the beach! granted I don’t go to the beach very often so it might be a while but I totally want to do this. It would be awesome to make a collection; I bet they’d be a bit different depending on where and maybe even when you get the water.
Cool! I might try this next time I get home to Rhode Island.
i still think you are crazy for doing this, but must admit…it’s pretty damn amazing. congrats on your salt.
I have thought about doing this too — it just seems like a cool adventure. I’ve always heard you should make sure that the beach you’re collecting from is not polluted. So how in tarnation do you figure out if a beach is polluted or not? I tried to google an answer, but I must be google-ing it totally wrong. Advice? Help?
Good question Jess! I’d try and collect from a beach that isn’t heavily populated with people or commercial boat traffic. If you do come across a beach pollution map (if such a thing exists) I would be more than interested in knowing about it!
Amazingly enough, I finally found a map! They only test a few hundred beaches, and the standard is ‘clean enough to swim’ (not clean enough to eat), but it gave me a good idea of the water quality in my region. map here. The same info in non-map form can be read .
Also, I found this site, which had more good information and advice on avoiding beach pollution, including common sense things that I often forget about (like, avoid the beach 24 hours after a storm b/c rain washes pollution into the ocean) . The standard is also for swimming, not eating, but it’s good advice.
I’m not totally satisfied with these results, but they are better than anything I found before…. a little more confidence-building, right? Anyway, thanks again for your lovely salt post.
hmmm, my html is bad on this comment. dang it.
Awesome thanks so much for the info Jess! I too never thought about the beach polution after a rain storm–good point! That would also be useful for people who might want to collect salt water for salt making.
so freaking cool!
For some reason this just struck me as very sentimental. Thanks for boiling water every night and waiting for salt A.J. {internet hug}
This is too cool not to do. I am going to have to take a little adventure tomorrow and walk my behind into the cold Pacific! Thanks for sharing and motivating me to do this.
You are my hero. I’d choose you to be my mentor over Martha any day! C
Ok, ok…. here I am far from the PNW in sunny, warm Key West! Woohoo, what a fun place. I just got about 4-5 cups of water, strained it thru coffee filters and its on the stove simmering down. Don’t think I will get much salt, but I thought it was worth a try, especially because I can’t bring water back on the plane with me. Loved your story here, thanks!
Thanks so much, Sally! Let me know how it goes. This was probably one of my favorite projects to date.
I just stumbled across your website from a link from Food In Jars. First – I love your website and the name is awesome. Second – this reminded me that when I went to go visit my sister in Hawaii we went to a few of the beaches that were pretty rocky and you can pretty much just scrape up sea salt out of pockets in the rocks where a high tide has left water and the sun has dried it out. I shoved some in my pocket so it has a bit of lint in it, but exciting none the less! Do you think that maybe in the summer instead of boiling on the stove you could just put it in a shallow pan in the sun?
Hi Rinna, thanks for stopping by the blog!
I am totally going to do some salt drying in the sun this year. It took forever on the stove, not to mention a pricey gas bill that month.
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