Halen Môn's crunchy flaky crystals add an extra something beyond what you will find with many of the other flake salts. For example, where Maldon is like a parchment-fine snap of pure balanced saltiness, Halen Mon finishing salt is like mille feuille, stacking multiple layers of crunch and more pronounced sea and sun flavors.
The making of Halen Môn marries centuries-old craft with high technology. Pure seawater from Wales Menai Straits passes through two filters, a mussel bed (nature's finest filter), and a sandbank before being charcoal-filtered. The filtered seawater is gently heated in a vacuum which encourages it to almost boil at a low temperature. As the water releases steam it is concentrated into very salty brine. The steam that is produced is used, in its turn, to heat the brine.
When the concentration of salt in the water is high enough it is released into shallow crystallization tanks. In the quiet of the night delicate crystals begin to form, first on the surface then sinking as they grow. In the morning the salt is harvested by gently scooping out the flakes. They are then rinsed in brine until they shine with snowy brilliance. Finally, the salt is carefully dried. Now, ten days after being drawn from the sea, the salt is ready.
Christy, an excellent cook whose ascetic love for fresh vegetables manifests itself in mountainous salads, has a favorite soup that blends butternut squash and a dozen other vegetables. The soup is intensely aromatic and rich, and with Halen Môn sprinkled on top it yields intense bursts of flavors whenever a stray un-melted flake of the salt crunches in the mouth. Halen Môn performs equally well on the ubiquitous salads of tomatoes and corn and chard and kale and rabe and jicama and scarlet globe radishes and radicchio and broccoli and sprouts and peppers.
Halen Môn's flaky crystals add an extra something beyond what you will find with many of the other flake salts. For example, where Maldon is like a parchment-fine snap of pure balanced saltiness, Halen Môn finishing salt is like mille feuille, stacking multiple layers of crunch and more pronounced sea and sun flavors. Christy, an excellent cook whose ascetic love for fresh vegetables manifests itself in mountainous salads, has a favorite soup that blends butternut squash and a dozen other vegetables. The soup is intensely aromatic and rich, and with Halen Môn sprinkled on top it yields intense bursts of flavors whenever a stray un-melted flake of the salt crunches in the mouth.
Ingredients: Sea salt
