The last time we were in Mexico we stopped in a tiny little town (just few houses, really) called Salinas (saltworks). We stopped at one of the houses to ask about the salt production. It was 10:00 in the morning and everyone was busy downing beers, but one guy said that he would be glad to show us around the salt production facilities. We found out later that they having a wake for his grandmother. This guy had left to go show a couple strangers around - typical Mexican hospitality!
The saltworks were at the end of a long, sandy, goat-path of a road. This place is unusual in that it is several miles from the ocean. The salt comes from a white deposit ("salitre") that forms on top of the mud as a seasonal lake dries up. The salitre is scraped up and then piled on a "filter" (the big table-thing) made from grass and clay. Salty water from a shallow hand-dug well is poured over the salitre and the resulting concentrated brine fills a basin. This brine is then poured out onto carefully leveled squares of earth to dry in the sun. The salt formed has a very unique earthy flavor, much more complex than your typical table salt.
We brought back five kilos of the stuff. The funny thing was, in this time of ridiculous airport security they never said a thing about an unmarked eleven-pound bag of mystery crystals...
The saltworks were at the end of a long, sandy, goat-path of a road. This place is unusual in that it is several miles from the ocean. The salt comes from a white deposit ("salitre") that forms on top of the mud as a seasonal lake dries up. The salitre is scraped up and then piled on a "filter" (the big table-thing) made from grass and clay. Salty water from a shallow hand-dug well is poured over the salitre and the resulting concentrated brine fills a basin. This brine is then poured out onto carefully leveled squares of earth to dry in the sun. The salt formed has a very unique earthy flavor, much more complex than your typical table salt.
We brought back five kilos of the stuff. The funny thing was, in this time of ridiculous airport security they never said a thing about an unmarked eleven-pound bag of mystery crystals...
