How the most expensive salt in the world is produced.
I, as a pastry chef, love to watch master classes on cooking desserts. 6 years ago, when I was just starting to learn the basics of art, I reviewed a huge number of webinars, master classes and just recipes.
In most French desserts, I've often come across the mysterious ingredient Fleur de Sel. The video showed that it was salt, so I figured it was just the name for French salt. But when I began to gain experience, I realized how wrong I was.
I found out about this when I started looking for where in Moscow one could buy such salt. Finding Fleur de Sel was not easy, and when I found it, I was amazed at its cost. They asked for 600 rubles for a bottle weighing 30 grams. This means that 1 kilogram of Fleur de Sel is 20,000 rubles. Let's figure out why this salt is so expensive.
To begin with, I will tell you how ordinary edible salt is obtained, so that later there will be something to compare with. There are many types of salt we are used to. I buy sea salt most often.
The production process is something like this. Sea water is poured into large salt pans (lakes). In the process of evaporation of water, most of the salt settles on the bottom - this is ordinary sea food salt.
The production process is simple, therefore, such salt costs an average of 8-10 rubles per kilogram (wholesale price). But if this salt is so cheap why does Fleur de Sel cost 20,000 rubles each?
In the process of evaporation of seawater, most of the salt settles on the bottom, but some salt crystals remain floating on the water. They form unusual pyramidal crystals. This is Fleur de Sel.
Such salt is collected by hand and most often by women, since salt crystals are too fragile for men's hands. The main difficulty in the production of Fleur de Sel lies in the fact that stable sunny weather with a constant gentle wind is necessary for its production.
There are not so many such places on the planet, and the main “plantations” are France, Portugal and the southeast of England. On average, 1 kilogram of Fleur de Sel is harvested per day on one salt lake, which is why it is so expensive. But chefs and gourmets buy this salt not for the sake of pathos, but why.
Due to its flaky texture, Fleur de Selle dissolves very quickly in the mouth. And this is its main advantage over ordinary salt. In haute cuisine, dishes are sprinkled with several Fleur de Sel crystals before serving. When the salt is on the tongue, it enhances and complements the flavor of the dish. Many gourmets carry boxes of Fleur de Sol with them and sprinkle their dishes even in restaurants.
This kind of salt is definitely not suitable for regular food preparation. More precisely, you can, of course, use it if you are a billionaire. It is best to save it for special occasions.
I really enjoyed using Fleur de Sel with liquid caramel. It should be added at the very end, when the caramel is already cooked, before pouring into the jar. Then the salt will not dissolve, but will remain crystals.
When a spoon with such caramel ends up in your mouth, it's just a bomb. Just imagine sweet and viscous caramel and a bright salty taste. This is delicious.
Did you know about the existence of such salt?