Making Sea Salt

I never expected to learn about sea salt from an ice cream recipe, but it was from a recipe by Kieran Murphy for Murphy's Sea Salt Ice Cream that I first learned the technique.

Take a 5L container to either a clean remote beach (not near dwellings), or, even better, out to sea using a boat or kayak.

Bring back the sea water, sieve through muslin into a wide pan, or you might need two to begin, and begin boiling. Boil and boil and boil. It takes a number of hours, but the wider the pan the faster it happens.

When you are about to give up on it, you will notice small white crystals developing in the water. Keep going, and, with only a couple of inches to go, suddenly your liquid solidifies into soggy salt crystals.

Keep boiling until all you have left in the pan are the salt crystals. Then tip the salt onto a baking tray and place in a very low oven for an hour or so.

Eventually, you will have pure sea salt, and enough to last several months, which goes some way to justify all the energy inolved in boiling it for so long.

I've heard of other people boiling it outside, using a heavy duty camping stove. For those worried about condensation in the kitchen, this is a good option.



You can pimp your salt, by adding a bit of powdered kelp. Pick some sugar kelp or oar weed. Dry on the washing line, or in a warming cupboard. When it has completely dried, put it through an old coffee grinder, and add the resulting powder to your salt. This makes the salt go further and makes it healthy as well as delicious.

You'll be delighted with the taste of your salt, you can really taste the minerals. And it makes lovely presents at Christmas.