Herbal salt from Guérande

Herbal salt with the scent of Mediterranean cuisine

The herbal salt from L'Atelier du Sel blends grey Guérande sea salt with thyme, rosemary, savory, and two types of oregano – all organic quality. A pinch of this, and vegetables, fish, or grilled meat will taste like the south. Not just any spiced salt, but handcrafted in Brittany.

Herbal salt from Guérande is the Mediterranean blend from the salt workshop L'Atelier du Sel, hand-mixed at the family business Morel et Le Chantoux. The French call it Sel de Guérande aux Herbes: grey Atlantic salt, gently dried after natural drying in the sun and wind in their own solar dryer, then married with five herbs. This way, the summer of the south travels into your kitchen – even in January, when the herb pot on the balcony is taking a break.

In food, it proves hearty, spicy, and aromatic: rosemary and thyme leading the way, then the warm savory, and finally the peppery note of green and red oregano. And beneath it, patiently, the slightly moist grey salt with its mild minerality. Anyone who unscrews the lid smells the south before tasting it.

For grills, oven vegetables, and Mediterranean fish

Herbal salt seasons everything that should taste like the south: sea bream and sea bass – preferably sprinkled into the stomach cavity before the fish goes into the oven – beef and pork from the grill, braised tomatoes, zucchini, and bell peppers.

Its flavor unfolds over oven vegetables that are braised until soft at 180 degrees – the salt is only added at the very end so that the herbs remain vibrant. It works just as well as a dry marinade: sprinkle a thin layer on the meat, let it sit for an hour, then grill. A good barbecue evening requires no more preparation than that.

If you prefer wild garlic to Mediterranean flavors, grab the wild garlic salt from the same workshop – the two get along well in the spice rack and share the season: one for spring, the other for summer.

Five herbs and a salt with character

The mixture includes thyme, rosemary, savory, as well as green and red oregano – five herbs that know the heat of the south and give the salt depth. The savory, known in French as sarriette, is the secret star: it binds the aromas of the others and holds them together like a good host.

The base is Sel Gris de Guérande: grey sea salt, harvested by hand, neither washed nor treated. In the solar dryer – a drying chamber run with solar energy from the workshop’s own roof – it is only dried just enough to maintain its natural moisture; this is part of the character of grey salt and binds the herbal seasoning. Since 2014, the workshop has been IGP-certified, and the herbs are organic, controlled by FR-BIO-01.

From the Mès basin to the Saint-Molf workshop

The salt is harvested in the salt marshes of the Mès basin near Assérac, mixed and bottled in the workshop in Saint-Molf – short distances, one family, one craft.

L'Atelier du Sel was founded in 2014 by Gilles Morel and his nephew Matthieu Le Chantoux. The salt leaves the salt marshes just as the sea created it, explains Matthieu – without mechanization, in the rhythm of the sun, wind, and tides. The pure fine sea salt in the shaker shows this base completely unadorned, and you can find all the family's salts gathered at L'Atelier du Sel in our shop.

Baguette, good olive oil, a pinch

Kept tightly closed, dry, and dark, the herbs in the 150g pack remain aromatic for a long time. For the end of the day, you need nothing more than a sliced baguette, good olive oil, and a pinch of herbal salt – and the evening sounds like a vacation. Goes wonderfully with a glass of chilled rosé.

Organic control body FR-BIO-01 – EU/non-EU agriculture