Summer brings around my vacation sojourn out to the Olympic Peninsula. I love the diversity of the area. Mountain, lake and sea converge into one Pacific Coast playground. While relaxing on the shores of Spencer Lake I browsed a book, "The One-Block Feast". I found many of the types of things we are trying to accomplish here on our third-acre lot. One that I had never considered was harvesting the sea for my own sea salt. So I seized the opportunity of being close to Puget Sound waters, away from the large ports and favorite boater's coves, and gathered two gallons of sea water from Case Inlet between Allyn and Grapeview.
I strained the first water through a sieve to remove any large particles. I then boiled it for 20 minutes to kill any bacteria, then filtered the brine to remove any other particles. I also referred to charts from studies of shellfish of the area where the water was taken for heavy metals. Safety first!
Working in 3 cup batches, I used a ceramic casserole in a 400 degree (convection) oven to evaporate the brine, leaving salty crystals behind. I then used a metal spatula to scrape the bottom and sides to release the crystals.
As the brine gets near being completely evaporated you'll need to watch it carefully so as not to burn it. I found that removing the dish just before the salt was completely dry and then letting it finish outside the oven gave the salt a flaky texture. If you leave it too long in the oven it will turn a cream color and be powdery once scraped from the dish. Also, it will be a chore to remove. I yielded 1 1/2 cups of salt for the two gallons of water collected.
Why go to all this trouble making my own sea salt. First and foremost, to educate myself on the abundance of my local environment. Salt is essential to life. Sea salt has the added benefit of containing trace minerals and, as a bonus, tastes better than processed table salt. I'm learning to live locally and as much as possible be self sufficient. It's called Locavorism.
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