The particulars
Season
May–September
Picked
Raked by hand from shallow pans
Tastes of
Clean brine, wet stone, nothing sharp
Field notes
Salt is the one thing in a can of Sprig that never grew. We buy it from a small salt works on the west coast, where sea water is pumped into shallow pans and left to the wind and the sun until the crystals can be raked off by hand.
It goes into two cans, and you should not be able to taste it in either. A few grains per litre are enough to quieten the sweetness of elderflower and to make nettle taste greener. Leave it out and the drink is flatter, though nobody could tell you why.
We use flakes rather than fine salt because they dissolve cleanly in cold water and carry nothing but salt: no anti-caking agent, no iodine, no grit.
