Sultans of Salt


Harvesting Sea Salt on Vancouver Island

      
by BC Farms & Food  -  Permalink
January 20, 2017


Jeff Abel takes us on a tour of Saltwest Naturals Sea Salt Harvestry on Vancouver Island, where he and his partner, Jessica Abel, use steam evaporation to harvest flaked fleur de sel and fine grain sea salt. The tour includes a look into Saltwest’s unique solar greenhouses, which produce sun-dried sea salt—a rarity in Canada’s Pacific maritime climate.

The Abels began their salt harvestry in 2011. At the time, Jessica was looking to start a food-based business. Living near the southwest tip of Vancouver Island, surrounded by pristine beaches and rugged waters, the Abels naturally looked to the sea. Jeff, a weekend fisherman, started bringing home buckets of seawater on his boat, and Jessica soon found herself evaporating the seawater over a stovetop to crystallize salt.

Hands full of Canadian sun-dried sea salt from the Saltwest solar greenhouses..

Sun-dried sea salt from Saltwest’s solar greenhouse.

After a year-and-a-half of regularly selling out at farmers markets, and seeing the growing public interest in artisan sea salt, the Abels decided to go “all in.” Jeff quit his job; they sold their house, and moved out to an acreage in Otter Point, near Sooke, BC.

With a background in pipe fitting and construction, Jeff hand-built all of the infrastructure on the site: a new home, the commercial kitchen, the salt harvesting facilities, and two solar greenhouses.

Saltwest is one of a handful of artisan sea salt producers in Canada, and is the only commercial solar sea salt harvester in Western Canada.

More about sea salt:
Harvesting Sea Salt — The Canadian Way
Rosemary Sea Salt Crackers

3 Responses leave one →
  1. 2024 August 12
    Victor W permalink

    Hi was wondering do you test your sea salt for heavy metals and if so what are the findings?

    • 2024 August 12
      BC Farms & Food permalink

      Jessica from Saltwest Naturals replies:
      Yes, we do test for heavy metals and the sea salt is safe for consumption as it is much lower in heavy metals than Health Canada standards. Thanks for reaching out.

  2. 2017 January 21
    Dad permalink

    You missed your calling Jeff. You should have been a tv personality. Great job and lovely pictures, kind of like that travel guy who takes you on tours and food around the world

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