A certain kind of magic happens each morning, from June until September, when the sauniers harvest a moist and coarse salt from the lining of clay ponds in Guérande in southern Brittany, known exclusively as “Sel de Guérande.”
Sel de Guérande is renowned for being 100% natural, unwashed and without additives. The proud inhabitants of Guérande, referred to as Guérandais for men and Guérandaise for women, still harvest salt the same way they have for thousands of years—by hand, using the Celtic method of wooden rakes allowing no metal to touch the salt. The magic happens when the effects of the late afternoon sun and a dry east wind align just right to make the smallest quantity of the purest salt. And lucky for us, things in Guérande continue to align in pretty much the same way.
It’s one of the reasons why it meets the criteria of France’s Nature et Progrès, the most rigorous salt certification in the world. And it meets ours as well. While we are proud that our salts come all the way from the Salinity Ponds in the medieval town of Guérande, we’re equally proud of our roots right here in Southern Oregon. We like to think of ourselves as the Guérandaise of Southern Oregon because we honor their harvesting tradition by hand crafting our gourmet finishing salts. We can’t say for sure if the Guérandaise know that besides Angers, France, Medford is the only other place where Comice pears grow, or that ninety nine percent of all hazelnuts grown in the U.S. come from the rich soil of the Willamette Valley, or if they’ve ever heard of Southern Oregon and Salinity™ Salts at all.
When you’re passionate purists, nothing compares to sea salt hand-harvested from Guérande, particularly the Salinity Ponds, in a process called “winning.” After all, we want to make the finest artisanal finishing salts we can, which means starting with the purest salt, adding the most organic ingredients, and delivering an unforgettable tasting experience you’ll come to expect with every meal.
One of the rarest salts in the world, sel gris is a 100% naturally pure organic sea salt, unrefined, unwashed and totally additive-free. And due to its lowest sodium content and varied mineral composition, it is considered by scientists to be a “good” salt.
Guérande’s sel gris offers 92 essential minerals and nutrients from calcium, potassium, magnesium, iron, manganese and zinc, to a host of trace minerals whose absorption into the bloodstream is aided naturally by sodium. With 100 minerals in every 100 grams, it’s the healthiest salt of the Earth, literally.
We human beings have an essential physiological need for the taste sensation of salt; as we do for sweet, acidic, and bitter taste sensations. And because Salinity™ uses nature’s own highest quality sea salt, they guarantee their finishing salts will only enhance the flavor of your food—and all of the taste sensations you crave—while preserving its original taste.
So as in everything: moderation. Used in reasonable quantities, salt adds taste and pleasure. Most salts deliver just salty. You’ll actually need less of Salinity™ Finishing Salts because they’ve blended only the finest ingredients to provide a richer and more complex flavor than simply salty. Salinity™ Finishing Salts invite a complete tasting experience, touching every palate point from the first bite right down to the finish. (Forgive the pun.)
Join us and add a little Salinity™ Salt to your life!