Sea salt

Little is known about how salt was used by the Canarian aborigenes, although we do know they used to collect it from rock puddles that occurred at high tide. This practice has continued through to the present day at certain regions of the archipelago. From the 16th century onwards, however, the Canary Islands saw a good number of salt lakes spring up around its coastlines, many built to provide supplies for salt preservation for its fishing industry. Of the 50 salt lakes listed on the archipelago’s official inventory called The Salt Garden, a true bibliography jewel, the majority have sadly disappeared or little remains are to be found of them. There are nine left here in the 21st century, five of them in Gran Canaria, where there were once a dozen: these include one in the north, the only primitive salt lake on the islands that stands on rock, and the other four in the southeast, two of them declared Sites of Cultural Interest, at Arinaga and Tenefé.

The main characteristics of all of these is that they are traditional, intensive facilities, with small sized pools where the sea salt is crystalized. According to specialist Alberto Luengo in his report “The Canaries provide the best farming conditions, producing 8 to 10 harvests a year of fresh, less concentrated salt, with a non-bitter taste and with its corresponding trace elements”, as opposed to lower quality salt produced at extensive continental salt lakes. “The quality of the salt is inversely proportional to the size of the recipient”, he insists.

Gran Canarian sea salt, which no longer supplies the fishing industry, now has its natural market –with its recognized and acclaimed quality- in the local food industry, and especially in gastronomy. The salt lake at Tenefé (which is now a Cultural Park) boasts a string of embassador chefs there.

Yuri Millares, December 2017