Fleur de Sel – Sea Salt

Flor de Sal from Altes Gewürzamt, flower of salt from Portugal

Flor de Sal from Altes Gewürzamt is the hand-harvested top layer of sea salt from Portugal. Delicate, slightly moist flakes rest on steak, tomato, and butter, providing a crunchy bite.

Flor de Sal is the finishing salt, packaged by Altes Gewürzamt in Klingenberg am Main in a 150-gram tin. The name translates to "flower of salt" and refers to the thin skin of crystals that forms on the surface of the salt pans on calm, hot days.

Delicate, crunchy, and mild

Between your fingertips, the flakes crumble into fine leaves that taste mild and pure, with a clear minerality.

Delicate, crunchy, mild: These flakes are not meant to be cooked with, but rather sprinkled over the finished dish at the very end. They are naturally slightly moist, which is exactly their hallmark.

Because they retain a trace of seawater, they cling to meat, tomatoes, and butter instead of sliding off the plate. Product that pours like dry sand does not have this origin.

In the salt marshes along the Portuguese Atlantic coast, seawater flows over shallow basins where the sun and wind slowly thicken it. Only on calm, hot days does that paper-thin crystal skin form on the surface, which is skimmed off by hand that same evening before it sinks. What is collected is a fraction of what the basin floor yields.

As a crowning touch on steak and tomato

This salt is intended for special moments, as steak, ripe tomatoes, avocado, and even chocolate desserts showcase its delicate flakes beautifully.

Over a seared steak, it acts as a crunchy crown, with every individual flake noticeable. The meat receives its seasoning only once it has come out of the pan and rested, as this allows it to sit on top rather than disappearing into the hot crust.

Tomato with olive oil, soft-boiled eggs, roasted pumpkin, and dark chocolate can all handle the same pinch, as a grain in sweets truly brings out the sweetness. A level teaspoon is sufficient for four plates.

It should never go into a grinder, however, as the moist flakes will clog the mechanism, and the grinding process would turn them into ordinary salt anyway. For ingredients that disappear into water, dough, or sauce, you can use coarser varieties; our coarse sea salt is available for that, and those who prefer to hear their flakes crunch can opt for the gourmet pyramid salt flakes.

Hand-harvested for Altes Gewürzamt

Authentic Flor de Sal forms on only a few days a year, and the harvest depends entirely on the weather. This is exactly the type of product Altes Gewürzamt looks for for its tins.

Those harvesting work against the clock, as the skin only lasts for a few hours before it sinks to the bottom and turns into ordinary grains. Therefore, this harvest remains scarce every season, regardless of how large the salt marshes are.

The 150 grams last a long time, as this salt is measured in flakes rather than spoonfuls. Rubbed between two fingers over the plate, it distributes finely while remaining perceptible.

It can be found at Altes Gewürzamt in the selection of salts and seasoned salts, alongside the rest of the Altes Gewürzamt product range.