A coarse, jumble of dry crystals and smoky flavor that adds drama and complexity to food, especially fish, meats, and fruits. Harvested from the pristine waters of Molokai in Hawaii, Kiawe Smoked is an ultra premium smoked sea salt produced with the utmost care and attention, yielding a red salt that is big, bold and beautiful. Sea salt crystals are smoked with Hawaiian Kiawe wood, a sweeter mesquite-like wood that yields very balanced, sweet and smoky flavors.
Try it on all manner of barbecue - brisket, steak, chicken, ribs, grilled veggies. Sprinkle into baked beans, beef chili, paprika-rubbed fillet of Coho salmon, or homemade double-chocolate brownies. One of our favorite ways to enjoy Kiawe Smoked Salt is on top of fresh peach slices. Bonus: This salt would be fantastic in a grinder, as it's inherently a very dry salt!
The Making of Our Hawaiian Sea Salts
Most of our Hawaiian sea salts are made on salt farms located in Kaunakakai, on the tiny island of Molokai -- and for a very important reason. In terms of distance from other land masses, the Hawaiian Island archipelago is the most isolated place on earth, which means that the ocean waters of Hawaii are as pristine as any on the planet.
The saltmaker uses a solar evaporation technology wherein seawater is injected into hermetically sealed, food-grade solar pans and allowed to slowly evaporate, yielding nature's own perfect salt crystals. The resulting finishing salt is a very clean and yet full-flavored, ultra-pure red salt that is just 84% sodium chloride, and 16% naturally occurring elements--over 80 total, including critical ocean electrolytes and trace minerals.
This salt is painstakingly harvested under the supervision of certified salt masters, who are members of the Salt Masters Guild of Hawaii, an association formed with the goal of reinvigorating the thousand-year tradition of salt making as practiced by the ancient Hawaiian culture. The guild also trains selected Molokai residents in the saltmaking process, providing them with a fulfilling, respectable career consistent with island culture.
The origin of any gourmet salt is a critical factor in assessing its various qualities. Ordinary table salts, along with many specialty brands‚ are super-heated, processed and treated to remove impurities and pollution. However, such drastic steps also remove the very electrolytes, trace minerals and elements our bodies crave, resulting in salt that is approximately 99% sodium chloride‚ thus missing much of the health- and beauty-giving properties of the primordial ocean from which all life on earth arose.
But even within Hawaii, Molokai is special. Molokai is the least developed of the Islands of Aloha, with only a few thousand residents, no major resort areas, and no industry; its lifestyle remains rural and slow paced. Because of this, the waters surrounding Molokai suffer no industrial or sewage runoff, the very things that destroy the delicate balance of ocean water. In fact, Papohaku Opal's ocean water (and that of its sister salts, Haleakala Ruby and Kilauea Onyx) is actually tested to conform to bottled-water standards of purity.
Made in Hawaii!
