Marisol, sea salt from the salt pans of the Algarve
Marisol is a salt manufacturer from Olhão in Portugal's Algarve region. There, experienced salineros hand-harvest natural sea salt from traditional salt pans located in the Ria Formosa and Castro Marim nature reserves—sun-dried, unrefined, and without any washing or bleaching.
Marisol stands for sea salt produced in the Algarve just as it has been since pre-Roman times: Atlantic water, shallow salt pans, sun, and wind—that is all it takes. The brand is operated by Böer & Siebert Lda. from Olhão in southern Portugal, a company that has been keeping the region's ancient salt-making craft alive in the present day since 2000.
Two people who crossed paths while planning a holiday
Marisol was founded in 2000 by Andrea Siebert and Hans-Nico Böer, at that time still based in Tavira, the old salt town of the eastern Algarve.
The two had met by chance ten years earlier, in 1990, while planning a vacation. As Andrea Siebert recounts in the company chronicle, their initial annoyance at the situation turned into a lifelong friendship. Böer brought the entrepreneurial daring; she, the keen eye for craftsmanship. Ten years later, the two stood together at the first salt pans.
Since 2006, the company has been based in Olhão, a fishing town located directly on the lagoon landscape of the Ria Formosa. In 2008, they added their own warehouse, followed by a larger headquarters in 2018, both in the same town. Hans-Nico Böer passed away in 2011. Since then, Andrea Siebert has continued to lead the brand with a small team and the same distinct philosophy.
Salt pans between Ria Formosa and Castro Marim
Marisol’s salt pans are located in two nature reserves in the eastern Algarve, the Ria Formosa and the Sapal do Castro Marim, where the Atlantic flows into shallow lagoons.
Anyone who has traveled the eastern Algarve will recognize the scene: still water in square basins, white mounds of salt along the edges, and flamingos poking around in the shallows. The Ria Formosa lagoon stretches for about 60 kilometers along the coast, from Faro almost to the Spanish border. It is precisely there, between Olhão and Castro Marim, that the salt grows.
The Algarve is one of the oldest salt-producing regions in Europe. The Phoenicians introduced the method, the Romans expanded it, and for about 2,000 years, the principle has remained largely unchanged. Seawater moves through increasingly shallow basins, driven solely by gravity; the longer the sun and wind work on it, the higher the salinity rises, until the first crystals form.
The reason this works so well here has to do with the summer. Between June and September, there is almost no rain in the eastern Algarve, but a constant wind blows; together, they remove moisture from the water faster than the sun alone. The basins themselves are shallow pans made of mud and clay, located in the same spot for generations; they do not disrupt life in the lagoon, but rather are a part of it. Where salt grows, birds nest.
From June to September with a wooden rake
Harvesting takes place only in summer, from June to September, using two different methods depending on whether the salt is floating or settled on the bottom.
The delicate flor de sal (salt blossom) is skimmed off daily by the salineros on calm evenings, when the crystals drift as a thin film on the surface of the water. The heavier Sal Tradicional sinks to the bottom and is raked together three to five times per season using long-handled wooden rakes—an image that features on every tag from the manufacturer.
After that, surprisingly little happens. The salt dries in the sun, is hand-sorted, passed through metal detection, gently broken, and filled by hand. Nothing is washed or bleached. Hand-harvested, sun-dried, unrefined—the grain comes to you exactly as the salt pan yields it.
What remains is measurable: over 94 percent sodium chloride in the dry matter, a maximum of six percent residual moisture for the coarse salt and eight percent for the flor de sal. The rest is simply what the Atlantic brings with it.
In the kitchen, the two types of salt follow different paths. Sal Tradicional is the "workhorse" salt; it dissolves slowly and provides robust seasoning in pasta water, marinades, or salt crusts. The Flor de Sal is only added at the end to the finished dish, where it provides a crunch between the teeth and a delicate, almost sweet note. Two salts from the same basin, two completely different roles.
Four certifications and a small team
The harvesting technique is centuries old, but the oversight is not. Since 2006, Marisol has undergone annual inspections, now totaling four.
Certiplanet Portugal and the kosher "Apple K" have accompanied the company since 2006, the IFS Food standard since 2013 at its highest level, and EU organic certification since 2023. For a product consisting of nothing but seawater, this is a remarkable stack of paperwork, and it is precisely that which makes the difference between romantic craft and reliable goods.
Everything is still filled by hand, in accordance with HACCP and IFS standards, sack by sack and jar by jar. There are companies that would have switched to machines long ago at this volume, but moist salt and high-speed machinery do not get along well, and the Marisol name is protected in both Europe and the USA. What it says on the label is what should be inside.
The company is now led by Inácio Valle, and you can tell how Andrea Siebert and her team operate by the little things: Rita handles sales, Mira Diana oversees quality control—four people for a salt that travels to half the world. On their company website, the manufacturer showcases Michelin-starred kitchens that use their salt, from the Algarve all the way to Kyoto. Respect.
With us in a cotton bag, coarse and honest
At nur Gutes, you will find Marisol's Sal Tradicional, coarse sea salt in a cotton bag (500g), a salt for your mill, pasta water, and salt crusts.
At Marisol, Sal Tradicional is the name for their classic sea salt, offered in coarse, medium, or fine grinds. In addition, the manufacturer offers Flor de Sal (salt blossom), coarsely crystalline Flos Salis, and flavored salts with Piri-Piri, as well as Tellicherry pepper and black garlic. We stock the coarse grain, and it is the workhorse among the three.
It is best ground over roasted vegetables and grilled fish, where it reveals its clear, clean taste without any bitterness. And because a storage bag has staying power, it also makes a lovely gift for anyone who loves to cook. The fabric bag looks so good that it never needs to be hidden in a cupboard.
More pure salts from salt pans in France, Spain, and Germany await in our category Sea salt coarse and fine; you can find the hand-skimmed queen in our Fleur de Sel and Flor de Sal section, and our Salt World gathers the entire variety.
If you are already in Portugal in spirit thanks to the salt, feel free to stay a while: the sardines from A Banca da Sardinha come from the same coastal kitchen, and dinnerware from Costa Nova sets them perfectly on the table. Salt, sun, Atlantic—greetings from Olhão.
