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| Saltern near Castro Marim |
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Traditional salterns of Tavira and Castro Marim |
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The traditional salt works, where Marisol finds its premium quality sea salt, are situated on the Atlantic coastline in the south of Portugal, within in the protected "Ria Formosa" and Sapal de Castro Marim" natural parks. The design of these »salinas« follows a 2000 year old tradition, and many of them contain historic parts such as tide mills and basins used for salt gathering over the centuries.
Production is limited not only by weather conditions and manual harvesting, but also by the 1:10 ratio of crystallization and concentration areas to be found in traditional salterns.
The season for seasalt usually starts in May, when the spring rains have stopped and the ponds, dykes and wooden locks have been cleaned and prepared. Fresh atlantic sea water flows into the saltern and evaporates gradually in successive ponds, until it has reached a salt concentration of 150 to 180 grams per litre. The brine is then forwarded to the small and flat crystallizer ponds. At a concentration of 250 to 280 grams per litre the salt starts crystallizing, precipitates within several days and is gathered by hand. After each harvest, new brine is added and new salt crystallizes. This process is repeated until the last harvest at the end of September, before the autumn rains begin to fall. In the wintertime, the salt ponds remain covered by water and the »marnotos« take care of the salterns' maintainance and the repair of their handcrafted harvesting tools.
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| A wooden lock regulates the supply of brine |
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| If you are interested in learning more about the long process of traditional manual sea salt harvesting in the Algarve, please come with us on a virtual tour: |
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