Spring Water Salt

What is spring water salt? A salty pearl from the depths of the earth

spring water salt is sometimes called one of the 'best salts' in the world. The salt literally comes from spring water. Spring water salt is a rock salt which is formed as a sediment layer by the drying up or retreat of the ocean.

The salt from the rock is carried by underground water currents to a spring. At the springs, the salt comes to the surface as brine. Often source salt is extracted by hand.

Why handcraft?

Manual work is often the simplest method of extracting salt in exotic locations. In the case of source salt, it also often proves to be the most effective way to extract the salt. Only by extracting the salt by hand does the pure crystal structure remain intact.

A unique pyramid shape

. When you think of a spring, you think of water. Spring water salt is therefore moist and must first be dried. This drying process takes place on wooden platforms. The salt mountains usually have the shape of pyramids: something different from the stone pyramids of the Pharaohs.

What is Inca salt?

Inca salt is salt that was mined by the Incas... Or no, of course not. Inca salt is mined at the place where the Incas used to live, namely in the Andes, near Machu Picchu. Inca salt is considered incredibly pure because it is mined far away from large cities and polluting industries. Inca salt is a pure stone salt.

Salt from the dried up primordial ocean

Inca salt comes from the water of an ancient ocean that dried up long before man left his (polluting) mark on the world's oceans. Due to tectonic shifts, the salt layer is now about 3500 metres above sea level. Quite bizarre if you think about it. The salt from the sediment layer is led from the mountain to the salt pans by natural currents. In the shallows, the moisture evaporates, while the salt remains.

Holy Valley of the Incas

Inca salt owes its name to the area where it is extracted: the Sacred Valley, near Machu Picchu. The salt extraction site has existed for more than 2,000 years. It was the Incas who first began to extract salt from the valley. The method used to extract the salt is very sustainable, with an eye for people and the environment. It is hoped that 2000 years in the future salt can still be extracted in the Sacred Valley.

The properties of Inca salt

Inca salt from the Andes Mountains is known for its special flavour, which is very mild. The salt can be used in almost all dishes. Inca salt is full of good minerals from the mountains, including magnesium, iron, calcium, potassium, zinc and even iodine - a mineral that is added specifically to table salt because it is good for the body.

How old is spring salt?

Spring water salt was usually formed more than 200 million years ago, at a time when humans did not yet exist and could not influence the climate. As a result of tectonic movements and changes in climate, the ocean dried up and salt was left behind as sediment.

Tectonic changes caused the salt layers in the Andes to rise far above sea level. River flows carried the salt out of the mountain.

Other types of salt

Inca rock salt is actually a kind of rock salt. Rock salt was in the distant past - before it was cut off from the open water and buried under new sediment layers - a sea salt. In addition to rock salt (also called "mountain salt"), there are other salts such as smoke salt. Smoke salt can also be sea salt, but gets its name from the special way it is processed.