Salted_ A Manifesto on the World's Most Essential Mineral, With Recipes - Mark Bitterman [48]
Everybody likes a cucumber.
Cucumbers taste better with salt.
Fleur de Sel de Camargue
ALTERNATE NAME(S): Le Saunier de Camargue Fleur de Sel MAKER(S): Le Saunier de Camargue; Salins Group TYPE: fleur de sel CRYSTAL: semifine; highly irregular COLOR: silvery white FLAVOR: balanced mineral; briny MOISTURE: moderate ORIGIN: France SUBSTITUTE(S): fleur de sel de l’Ile de Ré; Fiore de Cervia BEST WITH: duck; fried eels; grilled eggplant; Mediterranean salad of rice and fresh vegetables; buttered toast; caramels
The quality of Camargue’s light captivated the painter Vincent van Gogh, who spent the most productive period of his career in nearby Arles. Stop for a moment at a produce stand by the side of the road and let the warm, humid, faintly briny breeze caress your face; look up at the flocks of birds pinwheeling in the pale sky; breathe in the many subtle fragrances of the fields—and you will prepare yourself for the pleasures that fleur de sel de Camargue will bring to your table.
Fleur de sel de Camargue radiates with Lucite translucency, clearer and whiter than most other types of fleur de sel, like snow that has briefly melted and then partially refrozen. If you look at the crystals closely, it’s apparent that each is more cubical—more blocklike—than many of the best examples of fleur de sel, as if the crystals were molded rather than formed. In fact, up close, some of the crystals bear an unsettling similarity to certain mass-produced salts. On the other hand, the heterogeneity of the crystals’ sizes is very good. Some are virtually microscopic, others measure about half a millimeter across. The few rogue grains closer to two millimeters in size are infrequent, and do not pose a threat to subtler dishes.
Fleur de sel de Camargue contains slightly less moisture than many other types of fleur de sel due to a combination of factors, the first being that it is very hot in Camargue during the salt-making season, so the salt has ample opportunity to shed some of its moisture. The second factor is that the salt’s crystals generally lack the typical jumbled composition, and so offer fewer nooks and crannies for moisture to hide in.
Brazenly clear, blocky crystals aside, fleur de sel de Camargue settles on the tongue with a bashfulness that contrasts seductively with its persistence. There is no hint of the harsh or abrasive quality of some other southern European examples of fleur de sel, and you can’t help but admire its easygoing nature. The salt is happy to be with you: it doesn’t say much, just gently brushes your bare skin now and then with the beguiling absentmindedness of a hummingbird choosing you as a roost.
Our eyes set upon Aigues-Mortes … a jewel carefully set in a case of stone —Alexandre Dumas
DEATH OVER DEAD WATERS
During the Hundred Years War, the inhabitants of the great fortified city of Aigues-Mortes (“Dead Waters” in the Occitan dialect of southern France), Camargue’s salt-making center, put salt to a novel use. After being forced outside of the city’s protective walls by attacking Burgundians, Charles de Bourbon led a force of Armagnacs to retake the town. A long siege ensued—one that included some of the earliest uses of a cannon. Then, one night in 1421, the Baron Vauverde led a force made up of the city’s evicted inhabitants on a surprise attack. Killing the gatekeepers, the baron proceeded to slaughter the entire Burgundian force, with no quarter given. There were so many Burgundian corpses that the villagers now feared pestilence. The solution? Stack the bodies under piles of salt in the southwest tower of the city. To this day the battlement bears the name Burgundy Tower. Children in the countryside are put to bed with an eerie lullaby about salted Burgundians.
Fleur de Sel de Guérande
ALTERNATE NAME(S): none MAKER(S): cooperative; independent TYPE: fleur de sel CRYSTAL: fine; highly irregular COLOR: silvery clouded ice FLAVOR: balanced mineral; briny; wild horses MOISTURE: moderate ORIGIN: France SUBSTITUTE(S): fleur de sel de l’Ile de