Sea salt starts with seawater. When the water evaporates, the salt it contains is left behind in crystal form. Around the world, salt makers use a variety of methods to make that transformation happen, but many small producers rely on slow, careful processes that let the natural minerals and textures develop.
Typically, seawater is collected and filtered before being concentrated into a stronger brine. Some makers let the sun and wind do the work through solar evaporation, while others gently heat the brine in shallow pans. As the water disappears, delicate crystals begin forming on the surface. Those crystals are skimmed, dried, and packaged with minimal processing. It can take anywhere from 28 days to five months, depending on the weather, to create a batch of sea salt.
That hands-on approach is part of what gives artisan sea salt its character. Instead of the fine, uniform grains you see in a shaker of table salt, sea salt forms flaky or irregular crystals. These larger grains dissolve differently and add a subtle crunch, which is why pro chefs and home cooks alike often use them as a finishing touch on everything from roasted vegetables and grilled seafood to chocolate, caramel, and other desserts.
And guess what? Some of that salt is made close to home. One regional producer, San Juan Island Sea Salt, harvests seawater from the surrounding waters and turns it into small-batch finishing salts on San Juan Island. The result is a product that captures the flavor of the Salish Sea. We wanted to know more about this everyday ingredient, so we reached out to Brady Ryan, founder and maker at San Juan Island Sea Salt, to investigate.
Q&A with Brady Ryan of San Juan Island Sea Salt
Q: What first drew you to salt-making, and what made you want to build a business around it here in the San Juan Islands?
Having seen an article about a couple trying to do a local Thanksgiving and trying to make their own salt in the process, I decided to try doing it myself by boiling water on my parents’ stove. It worked, but it was a huge mess. After college, I was working on vegetable farms in the Seattle area and was ruminating on whether I could figure out a different way to make sea salt using greenhouses (which I’d learned to build while farming). After telling my now-wife that idea, she showed me a YouTube video of a gentleman in Maine making sea salt in greenhouses, and I thought to myself, “I can do that!” So in 2012, we built our first solar evaporation house and have been learning and growing salt ever since. As for why San Juan Island, this is where I was born and raised, and my parents have a farm here on the island where they let me do my business.
Q: What is it about the Salish Sea that makes your salt unique?
The actual ocean water is relatively uniform around the world, so mostly it comes down to choices the salt maker makes. In our case, the main choices are using solar evaporation…and the fact that we go for maximal minerality on our salt by leaving in a lot of the trace minerals that other salt makers tend to leave out.
Q: What sets your production method apart from larger-scale or commercial salt operations?
Well, there are lots of very large-scale solar salt farms, but none that do solar salt in greenhouses like we do. Other than that, everything we do is very hand-done, [with] very little mechanization. Everything is harvested and processed by hand.
Q: What types of salt do you currently produce?
Different variations in size and crystal structure, from everyday cooking salt to very fancy flake salt. In addition, we make about 35 spice blends and flavored salts.
Q: Texture plays such a big role in sea salt. How should people think about choosing between different crystal sizes?
It’s good to have a few different crystal sizes/types for different uses, whether it be for cooking or finishing. In general, the large, delicate, flaky crystals are great for finishing, and the finer crystals are great for cooking, but they can be used more or less interchangeably, and it comes down to personal preference. Overall, I would just suggest folks put a little less salt in their food and a little more salt on their food, as having crunchy salty crystals at the interface between you and the food makes for fun eating.
Q: What’s something about sea salt or the salt-making process that might surprise our readers?
Salt grows naturally in a huge variety of cool crystal forms, it’s actually really beautiful!
Q: Where can readers find your salt locally or learn more about what you do?
Certainly on our website, but also at lots of grocery stores and gift shops throughout the country. But the best way is to come to Friday Harbor and come to our shop and sample all the flavors and chat with us about salt!
Photograph by La Vie Photography
