French coarse sea salt from Guerande Le Guerandais-gros sel de Guerande - 1000 gr

Product Information

Sel de Guérande” and “Fleur de Sel de Guérande” have been specially protected by the European PGI (protected geographical indication) label since 2012, which guarantees the origin and quality of salts from Guérande. Accordingly, the salt farmers of the “Les Salines de Guérande” co-operative produce unwashed, additive-free, regional sea salt by hand and under strict controls. Cooking with sea salt

Sel de Guérande” and “Fleur de Sel de Guérande” have been specially protected by the European PGI (protected geographical indication) label since 2012, which guarantees the origin and quality of salts from Guérande. Accordingly, the salt farmers of the “Les Salines de Guérande” co-operative produce unwashed, additive-free, regional sea salt by hand and under strict controls. Every Friday in July and August, the Saint-Aubin collegiate church hosts the La Voix des Orgues music festival with various concerts. It was not until 1488, or 145 years later, that the ramparts, by then complete, were inaugurated during the reign of Francis II, Duke of Brittany (father of Anne of Brittany), only a few months before his death. The old walled town (known in French as vieille ville) is surrounded by nearly intact ramparts and has four fortified gates (the largest of which is a 15th-century châtelet known as Porte Saint-Michel) as well as ten towers.For cooking, Guérande salt is the most appreciated by cooks and great chefs in France and abroad. It can be used with a wide variety of dishes and preparations.

In tests this Celtic salt has been shown to contain approximately 70% sodium chloride, leaving approximately 30% to be other minerals etc. This type of salt contains all the natural minerals that occur in the sea. Nothing is removed. It is said by some that even the act of grinding the salt can cause the loss of certain gases from inside the crystals. (from - Seasalts Hidden Powers by Jaques De Langres) About half of the remaining megalithic monuments of the Département Loire-Atlantique, is located on the Peninsula, which makes it an important area for Prehistory. It is now known that these structures date from around 5200–2200 BC. The crystals obtained are completely different: small inversed pyramids, crumbly and transient for flower of salt, and clumps of harder cubes, depending on the time they spend in the water, for coarse salt.Salt, also called gray salt or more colloquially coarse salt, does not have the same uses as "fleur de sel" salt or even the same harvesting method. But the real inspiration behind the salt marshes were the monks from Landévennec Abbey, who, in 945, founded Batz Priory and carved them out. By studying the tides, wind and sun, the monks mapped out a plan of the salt works, which is the one we see today. A titanic project, this open-air factory brought prosperity to Guérande for many centuries and opened up the first trading routes in Europe: it was the Eldorado of Brittany. Regarding the potential for micro plastic in Guerande salt: Micro plastic floats on the surface of the water. This salt is created at the bottom of a series of clay-lined lagoons. The seawater is naturally filtered seventeen times before it reaches the last of the collections ponds. These age-old systems of filtration are very sophisticated; sometimes it is the water of the surface which is filtered, sometimes the water of the middle and sometimes the bottom water in turn, up to seventeen times. Local tradition tells the story of a peasant named Yves Herbic, who was very poor. At daytime, he would work for his lord. At night, he would cultivate his own small piece of land. He sowed wheat but this didn't bring in enough money to pay the rent that the lord demanded. Therefore, he decided he had to build his own mill, but he couldn't do it alone. The Devil offered him a deal. Yves agreed to give his soul to the Devil in exchange for the mill. His wife was not pleased about that deal but she didn't know Yves had a cunning plan. Yves watched the Devil closely while he was building the mill. At the last moment the Devil finished building the mill, Yves placed a statue of the Virgin Mary on top of it. The Devil vanished instantly into thin air and never returned. Yves got his mill and kept his soul. It is an evident term for this rare product, which appears with the first gust of wind and disappears with the cool of the night.

The term is also found in “fleur de l’âge” (in the prime of life), defined by the Larousse dictionary as: “the freshness and spontaneity of one’s beginnings”. A real flower is transient and fragile, which gives its beauty. The market of Guérande is held every Wednesday and Saturday morning inside the ramparts. A fish market is also organized every day except Mondays and Thursdays. The Guérande Peninsula is surrounded by water. It stretches out from the Atlantic Ocean (west) to the Brière Regional Nature Reserve (east), and from the river Vilaine (north) to the Loire estuary (south). When a salt crystallises over a long period of time, it becomes hard and pure. When the crystallisation is recent, the grain is crumbly, porous and moist. The other elements contained in the moisture are trapped when it dries. If it does reach the bottom, it continues to crystallise, in a similar way to a coarse salt, in hard cubes, but in an organised way and not in clumps. It is a coarse salt crystallised around a flower of salt embryo. This product, however, does not correspond to the definition of flower of salt!

What does salt actually taste like? 

French Land Register data, which excludes lakes, ponds, glaciers > 1km 2 (0.386sqmi or 247 acres) and river estuaries.