The Story of our French Sea Salt

THE GOURMET GIFTS

Gifts, Gifts & Gifts
Gift-of-the-Month
Our $30 Gift Box
Our $60 Gift Box
Our $90 Gift Box
Our $120 Gift Box

THE CATEGORIES

Atkins Diet
BBQ Sauces
Gluten Free Foods
No Carb Foods
Restaurant Supplies
Rice Bran Oils
Sea Salts

THE BRANDS

1849 Brand
Andy's Rub
Banyuls
Basque BBQ
Chateau
Fleur de Sel
Food Mill
Giusto's Flours
Heavenly Chef
Island Girl
Jade Peanut Sauce
Lazy Kettle
Maggie Gin
Maison Louisianne
Marisal Sea Salt
Naturally by Nature
Old Fashioned
Original Australian
Paladini Seafood
Pietro Dressings
Ruin Your Day
Sierra Nevada
Tahoe Trail Bars
Tophe Rice Oil
Valrhona Chocolate
Wildeats
Wok Mei
Pasta Dictionary

The Story of French Sea Salt

Why This Stuff is Worth It!

Our FLEUR de SEL, and other products du pays Guerndais are hand made by Gilles HERVY, Artisan Paludier (pictured).

The salt of the earth: The story of Fleur de Sel is simple yet complicated. Fleur de Sel is an all natural sea salt from Brittany. Unprocessed, unrefined, unadulterated. That is the simple and delicious truth. Where it is harvested and how it is made is much more difficult to achieve.

In Brittany near the town of Guerande, there is a mini climate that is much milder than the rest of Brittany. In this region you'll find plenty of marshes and low lying areas, the currents of the Atlantic run cleaner than many other salt harvesting locations, and unlike the Camagarue, there are no nuclear power plants. Together these forces make Guerande an ideal "salt farm" region. Which is why it has no peer in Europe for the quality of salt produced.

Worth its weight in salt: The salt fields of Guerande are long narrow series of basins that are flooded by gravity. The size allows an artisan paludier (craftsman salt harvester) to "sweep" the top of the evaporating sea water to harvest the precious sel gris de Guerande (hand harvested sea salt with a grey cast which is an entire season's evaporation). On warm, breezy afternoons when there is no rain, that single day's evaporation of salt crust on top of the salt pond is harvested as the Fleur de Sel. It is the least salty, purest part of the saline. The harvest (forming) is usually from May to September. And for every 80 pounds of sel gris produced, only three pounds of Fleur de Sel is harvested. Mr. Hervy sells his product in only two ways: retail out of a truck by the road and wholesale to our importer exclusively. This means that we are always assured of the quality and authenticity of this product.

A taste worth a thousand words: Try Mr. Hervy's Fleur de Sel, Sel Gris (Grey Salt), or Herbed Grey Salt, and let your mouth complete this incredible story.