Stone pine salt in a ceramic pot

Stone Pine Salt with the aroma of the Queen of the Alps

The Stone Pine Salt from Essenz der Alpen is a pan-boiled Alpine salt from Hall in Tyrol, refined with stone pine extract. No lab-made flavorings, but real stone pine cones – a warm, resinous-sweet spiced salt in a 90 g ceramic pot for hearty mountain cuisine.

Stone Pine Salt combines pure Tyrolean Alpine salt with the extract of the stone pine, the Queen of the Alps, whose cones Johanna Jenewein incorporates into the salt in her pan saltern. This gives the coarse crystals a warm, pinkish-brown shimmer and an aroma that smells of forest, resin, and a hint of honey. It turns a simple roast dinner into a little piece of the Alps, without you needing to spend time seasoning it.

Resinous, sweet, and woody

The Stone Pine Salt smells resinous and warm, seasons with a mild saltiness, and adds a sweet, woody note, like a walk through a stone pine forest. Close your eyes for a moment, and you are standing in the middle of a mountain forest.

On the palate, you first taste the mild Alpine salt, then the stone pine follows with its resinous, honey-like depth, reminiscent of caramel and warm wood. This sweetness is subtle, never intrusive, and pairs surprisingly well with bold, hearty food. Once you have smelled stone pine, you won't forget it, and often you won't need any other spices at all.

For roasts, game, and root vegetables

Stone Pine Salt loves hearty mountain cuisine, from pork roast to game, smoked trout, and roasted root vegetables. It is right at home wherever things should be spicy and wintry. Especially on cold days, its scent evokes memories of snowy mountain huts.

A crispy pork roast, a game ragout, oven-baked pumpkin, or a smoked trout easily absorb its resinous sweetness. Even a piece of dark chocolate or a steak gets a woody twist with a pinch. For a clear base, stick to our Alpine Salt; for a fine finish, use our Alpine Fleur de Sel. You can find more varieties among our salt specialties.

From the pan, refined with stone pine

In her small pan saltern in Hall in Tyrol, Johanna Jenewein has been boiling Alpine natural brine since 2020 and refining it with real stone pine cones.

The stone pine grows high up in the Alps, at altitudes of up to 2,500 meters, where hardly any other tree thrives, and has always been considered the Queen of the Alps. Its young cones provide the resinous-sweet aroma, which one otherwise knows from stone pine schnapps or a wood-paneled "Zirbenstube." Our grandparents already cherished the scent that permeated entire parlors and bedrooms.

What used to be reserved for parlors and schnapps, you can now bring to your plate with this salt. Thus, about 5 years after the first boiling attempts, a Stone Pine Salt was created that is exclusively available worldwide from Essenz der Alpen. Finding the special in tradition and reinterpreting it is her motivation, Johanna says. This is what the Alpine forest tastes like.

Otherwise, the stone pine aroma will evaporate

Sprinkle the Stone Pine Salt only toward the end of the cooking process or over the finished dish so that the delicate stone pine aroma does not evaporate. The 90 g will last a long time because even a small pinch brings a lot of character. With oven-baked pumpkin and a little butter, the honey-like side of the stone pine clearly comes to the fore. It also goes well with strong mountain cheese or dark bread.

Keep it dry and tightly sealed, then the aroma will remain fresh, and the empty ceramic pot can be used as a storage jar or a small baking mold. It is a beautiful, unusual souvenir for everyone who loves the mountains, especially during the cold season. Those who love stone pine enjoy gifting it to others. Find more at Essenz der Alpen.