I love you like salt, as the story goes.
Salt has been produced in Britain since the iron age and there are salt producers around the country reviving traditional methods and provenance.
From preserving and making food taste better to throwing it over your left shoulder for good luck, salt has always played an important role in life.
Salt is essential to life ! and everybody has it in the cupboard. With a great choice of British salt brands out there, you can find your favourite.
Salt in Britain
It has been harvested or mined in Britain, and around the world for thousands of years.
Salt has been extracted from from brine springs, wells for centuries, as well as being harvested along the coast.
Historically it has been the main method for preserving food, and was necessary to sustain the winter months or long journeys.
Salt draws out moisture from food preventing growth of bacteria making food that could be preserved highly valuable.
Read more about the full and fascinating history of salt from the Salt Association.
Originally the Word Salt comes from latin ‘salarium’, meaning salary, as it was once a hugely valuable commodity.
Buy British Salt
Taste the range of salt from around Britain. You can buy pure sea salt from a number of producers, from local stockists, farm shops and online. If you are visiting the one of the salt producing areas or looking for a foodie gift, pick up some artisan salt.
England
Ireland
Scotland
Wales
Channel Islands
Inland Salt Industry
Mostly we think of salt coming from the sea, however the centre of salt mining in Britain is Cheshire!
Winsford Rock Salt Mine, in Northwich is Britain’s largest and oldest working mine. Active since 1640, the mine is 200m under the Cheshire countryside. You can visit the mine to get a closer look
Rock salt is commercially mined at Boulby Mine, North Yorkshire and Kilroot near Carrickfergus, Northern Ireland.
Salt Marshes
Places in England that end in -wich or -wych are often areas with brine springs or wells.
This comes from the Anglo-Saxon word wych, meaning ‘brine town’
There are several towns for example, Northwich, Nantwich, Droitwich and Middlewich that made up the ‘Salt towns’ of Cheshire.
If you are interested in the history of salt production in England The Lion Salt Works, the only salt museum in the country, is in the village of Marston in Cheshire. The restored open-pan salt making site, which closed in 1986, is open to visitors and hosts exhibitions and events.
Harvesting Sea Salt
One area of the country that still produces it is Maldon in Essex, which as a long history of sea salt ‘cultivation’. According to the Domesday Book, in 1086 there were 45 salt pans in Maldon.
Sea Salt retains beneficial natural elements, including Magnesium and Potassium, which are necessary for a healthy, balanced diet.
Salt has been extracted from from brine springs, wells for centuries, as well as being harvested along the coast.
From, spilling salt, which brings bad luck, to throwing it over your shoulder for good luck. There are traditions, superstitions and folklore relating to salt the world over.
Taken with a Pinch of Salt
Salt Folklore and traditions
From, spilling salt which brings bad luck to throwing it over your shoulder for good luck. There are traditions, superstitions and folklore relating to salt the world over.
Such was its value that it would come to be associated with defining good character.
Worth Your Salt
Harvesting Sea Salt
Read the story of Sugar and Salt (links to page 48) in Sidney Oldall Addy, Household Tales, with Other Traditional Remains Collected in the Counties of York, Lincoln, Derby and Nottingham (London and Sheffield, 1895)
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Find regionally made products by independent businesses offering a unique range of goods. Every part of the country has it’s own regional speciality and traditional crafts.
