Ever wondered how salt is made? Let me give you a hint – it involves the sea, the sun, and some serious labor. Sea salt harvesting for the most part lets the sun do the job and once the water has dried up, salt crystals are harvested. And this age-old process is still practiced today. But don’t worry you no longer need to step out of your house to experience the precious moment of witnessing salt formation. Croatian firm BOIR brings this experience right to your home!
Their product, aptly named ‘SALT’, is more than just a salt container. It is a portable saltworks whose aim is to preserve the authentic taste of natural Mediterranean Sea salt which is extremely rich with minerals and oligo-elements – about 80 of them. ‘SALT’ comes with a bottle of – Nin 28 Bé° – which is concentrated Adriatic seawater (brine). All you have to do is pour a thin layer of this brine into the salt pan and expose it to sunlight for an hour or heat it up in the oven. When the crystal pattern appears, it can be harvested with a mini rake and is ready to be served fresh!
‘SALT’ comes in two variants – Natural and Dark. The former comes in a base of natural walnut with an oil finish and the latter, in oak with a dark oil finish. Both come with a ceramic salt pan coated in waterproof enamel, a mini hand-polished inox salt rake, and the aforementioned brine in a bottle of amber glass. BOIR intends to add various brines from different micro-regions to their collection of offerings. On a different note, I must say I’m absolutely in love with the logo of ‘SALT’. The clever depiction of the ‘T’ as a salt rake is just superb!
This product is also an homage to the traditional and sustainable practices of sea salt harvesting that are increasingly being pushed out by industrial production processes, which they say whiten the salt just to please the eye. The disappearance of traditional saltworks threatens biodiversity and also the rich culinary culture of the Mediterranean. With ‘SALT’ they hope to mimic the human element of salt creation and I for one am in complete awe of this peaceful dining ritual!
Designers: Vlatka Leskovar – Zidar and Ivan Zidar of BOIR
