Maldon Sea Salt is a

salt Salt is a mineral composed primarily of sodium chloride (NaCl), a chemical compound belonging to the larger class of salts; salt in the form of a natural crystalline mineral is known as rock salt or halite. Salt is present in vast quantitie ...

-producing company in

Maldon Maldon (, locally ) is a town and civil parish on the River Blackwater, Essex, Blackwater estuary in Essex, England. It is the seat of the Maldon District and starting point of the Chelmer and Blackwater Navigation. It is known for Maldon Sea ...

on the high-salinity banks of the River Blackwater in Essex, England. The river is favoured by flat tide-washed salt marshes and low rainfall.

History

Sea salt Sea salt is salt that is produced by the evaporation of seawater. It is used as a seasoning in foods, cooking, cosmetics and for preserving food. It is also called bay salt, solar salt, or simply salt. Like mined rock salt, production of sea sa ...

production in the coastal town of Maldon dates back to the time of

Roman Britain Roman Britain was the period in classical antiquity when large parts of the island of Great Britain were under occupation by the Roman Empire. The occupation lasted from AD 43 to AD 410. During that time, the territory conquered was ...

when

clay Clay is a type of fine-grained natural soil material containing clay minerals (hydrous aluminium phyllosilicates, e.g. kaolin, Al2 Si2 O5( OH)4). Clays develop plasticity when wet, due to a molecular film of water surrounding the clay par ...

-lined

salt evaporation pond A salt evaporation pond is a shallow artificial salt pan designed to extract salts from sea water or other brines. The Salt pans are shallow and large of size because it will be easier for sunlight to travel and reach the sea water. Natural sal ...

s were constructed, and according to the

Domesday Book Domesday Book () – the Middle English spelling of "Doomsday Book" – is a manuscript record of the "Great Survey" of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086 by order of King William I, known as William the Conqueror. The manusc ...

, 45 lead pans were used to manufacture salt there in 1086. The Maldon Salt Company was founded under its current name in 1882, having previously been part of a local coal firm. In the 1990s and early 2000s, Maldon's salt grew in popularity after being used by prominent chefs including

Ruth Rogers Ruth Rogers, Baroness Rogers of Riverside, (; born 7 July 1948) is an American-born British chef who owns and runs the Michelin starred Italian restaurant The River Café in Hammersmith, London.Adam LusheRecord 10 women chefs win Michelin star ...

Delia Smith Delia Ann Smith (born 18 June 1941) is an English cook and television presenter, known for teaching basic cookery skills in a no-nonsense style. One of the best known celebrity chefs in British popular culture, Smith has influenced viewers t ...

, and

Jamie Oliver James Trevor Oliver MBE OSI (born 27 May 1975) is an English chef, restaurateur and cookbook author. He is known for his casual approach to cuisine, which has led him to front numerous television shows and open many restaurants. Oliver reache ...

Salt

Maldon Sea Salt is made by evaporating

brine Brine is a high-concentration solution of salt (NaCl) in water (H2O). In diverse contexts, ''brine'' may refer to the salt solutions ranging from about 3.5% (a typical concentration of seawater, on the lower end of that of solutions used for br ...

over fires mounted on an elaborate network of brick

flue A flue is a duct, pipe, or opening in a chimney for conveying exhaust gases from a fireplace, furnace, water heater, boiler, or generator to the outdoors. Historically the term flue meant the chimney itself. In the United States, they are al ...

s. The resulting

pyramid A pyramid (from el, πυραμίς ') is a structure whose outer surfaces are triangular and converge to a single step at the top, making the shape roughly a pyramid in the geometric sense. The base of a pyramid can be trilateral, quadrilat ...

-shaped crystals prevent the salt from

caking Caking is a powder's tendency to form lumps or masses. The formation of lumps interferes with packaging, transport, flowability, and consumption. Usually caking is undesirable, but it is useful when pressing powdered substances into pills or briq ...

, and it is used as a finishing salt. The company claims that the salt's low

magnesium Magnesium is a chemical element with the symbol Mg and atomic number 12. It is a shiny gray metal having a low density, low melting point and high chemical reactivity. Like the other alkaline earth metals (group 2 of the periodic ta ...

content means it has less of a

bitter Bitter may refer to: Common uses * Resentment, negative emotion or attitude, similar to being jaded, cynical or otherwise negatively affected by experience * Bitter (taste), one of the five basic tastes Books * '' Bitter (novel)'', a 2022 nove ...

aftertaste than other salts, an elegant marketing spin to the fact that salt gained from evaporating sea water has a higher magnesium ion content that standard table salts and which requires special process steps to remove the magnesium ion content.

References

External links

* Companies based in Essex Salt production Food and drink companies of England Maldon, Essex 1882 establishments in England {{Food-company-stub