Salt

Have you ever thought of making your own? I hadn’t despite living right next door to the Pacific Ocean for the last four years. I didn’t think of it until a friend suggested trying. I was sold on the idea just for the experience but have also been enjoying the fruits of our labour since.

Here’s how we made our salt or ‘Crab Pot Bight Salt” as we affectionately dubbed it. The water was collected from the bight where we catch crabs in the far side of the local harbour.

Salt water is 3.5% salt. I was shocked to see with my own eyes what that meant and how much salt we made per litre.

We used a filter of cheese cloth and paper towel, “just in case”, but it’s doubtful it was necessary because any impurities in the water would have been in suspension in the water anyhow. That means we would not be able to mechanically remove them, however boiling them would.

There are a number of different ways to make salt from salt water. All of them having to do with boiling away the water but the details vary. You can boil it in a heavy bottomed pot or in a long pan over two elements. You can boil half the water and then add the other half when the first is boiled down…. too many techniques to share.

We tried two simple methods to see which of the two would be better. We used a long roasting pan over two elements and a heavy bottomed pot. Turns out our bets were right and more surface area of course boils away faster, but not by much. After about three hours of boiling, the ten minutes saved using the roasting pan didn’t feel that significant.