Salt flower

Fleur de sel is a cluster of crystals that forms on the surface of seawater. Its formation depends on atmospheric conditions; the temperature and solar radiation must be high and the wind must be gentle. When these three conditions are met, tiny salt crystals begin to form on the surface of the crystallizers. These crystals are very thin straws that break apart under pressure and come together in the wind, forming a white, shiny film.

These are small crystals that form on the surface of the crystallization waters of the salt flats, and are collected in special crystallizers (shallow clay tanks). This harvesting operation is artisanal and only removes a very thin film of salt crystals that forms on the surface of the water, and they never touch the bottom of the crystallizers. This thin film must be carefully removed and left to dry in the sun for 7 days, resulting in crispier crystals, without undergoing any type of processing or addition of chemical products. These crystals are called flowers, because when viewing their crystallization through a microscope, this shape can be seen.

It contains unique minerals and nutrients, as well as microcrystals that facilitate digestion and has the advantage of being completely natural, not being subject to any industrialization process, including washing, which removes very important nutritional components such as plankton and small skeletal remains of tiny marine animals, great sources of calcium, magnesium, zinc, copper, among others.

However, to reach a point where the crystallizers are ready to produce fleur de sel, in the hot summer months (in the northern hemisphere, between June and August), work on the salt flats must begin about 2 months earlier.