Travel: Salt Harvesting in Anglesey
A few days in Wales...
It all started with a misunderstanding in Miami… And now I’m in Wales?
If you follow me on TikTok, you may have seen the video below. Long story short, I was stopped by security when entering a party during Art Basel and something surprising was found during my bag search. What was a metal tin full of salt was suspected to be something entirely different. I’ll let your imagination do the work here. I love my flaky salt so I wasn’t about to let my tin get confiscated! I forced the security guard to taste it and I’m happy to say I was let into the party (and so was my salt).
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To my pleasant surprise, the salt brand, Halen Môn, reached out to me and invited me to their salt farm in Wales. EXCUSE ME?!? Of course I had to go. As a token of my appreciation, I made them a jam - you can find the recipe here!
I am now on the train ride back to London from Anglesey writing this newsletter to share my wonderful experience with you. We managed to pack so much into these 24 hours and this truly became one of my favorite travel adventures - I learned so much and I can’t wait to tell you all about it! For some extra visuals you can check out the video below (please subscribe to my new YouTube channel if you’d like to see travel vlogs - Japan, China and LA next!)
Much to my surprise, Halen Môn actually just translates to Anglesey (Mon) Salt (Halen). This enterprise is a family-run, small scale business and it was an absolute dream to spend a day here and learn how they make their salt. The family (huge shoutout to Jess, Allison and David for their hospitality) kindly invited me and a friend to not only come learn but also stay with them! I can safely say that while harvesting salt was fascinating, being able to stay with the Lea-Wilson family - explore their gorgeous vegetable garden, have wonderful conversations, and feast on a lovely meal made by Anna Shepherd - was the true highlight of the trip. It’s always so nice to meet people with mastery and passion who are also genuinely good people.
The Trip
My friend Lola and I met up at the train station on Tuesday and took the ~3 hour train ride up North. The scenery was unbelievable! Green rolling hills, sheep galore and *angsty* Welsh beaches (as Lola describes them perfectly). Upon arrival we were greeted by Allison and driven over to the Halen Môn condiment shop (!) and factory.
It was so sunny out that we ended up eating lunch outside in a cute little wooden hut. We had a lovely lunch filled with Halen Môn condiments and local cheese (long live Baron Bigod). I even got to try their new condiment that isn’t even available to the public yet… see below… I felt like a true VIP.
After this, we were given a tour of the salt production plant and warehouse. A great preview before tomorrow’s hands-on salt harvesting! To conclude the experience, we did a full taste test of different varieties of salt. This tasting really highlighted the clean, crisp, melt-on-the-tongue nature of Anglesey salt. Although I am usually biased to fleur de sel from l’Ile de Ré, when it comes to flaky salt, Halen Môn is hands down my #1.
After our lesson on salt, it was time to relax in barrels of boiling hot seaweed water. Yes seaweed! I love it here… Seaweed actually contains a lot of oil so it’s great for your skin. The barrels were a lot hotter than expected so we simmered in these as little poached humans and enjoyed the view. I mean, how many people can say that one their ONE day in Wales they saw bright blue skies and voluntarily opted against a jacket??
The afternoon consisted of a nice long walk on the beach and a tour of the Lea-Wilson family home. Their garden is so spectacular, I may actually be doing it a disservice to try to and paint a picture for you. Just think about the dreamiest walled garden filled with fresh, seasonal veg, a random door to nowhere, hot pink rhubarb and an overwhelming herby smell with every gust of wind.
Our dinner was cooked by the amazing chef (and human), Anna Shepherd, and consisted of many of her recipes from her new cookbook Love Vegetables. All of the veggies came from the garden and my goodness, this was really one of the best vegetarian meals I had ever had.
OK GOODNIGHT SEE YOU IN THE AM (I hope you’re enjoying this play by play)
The next morning we feasted on more Halen Môn condiments, leftover focaccia from dinner and some fresh apple juice from the garden. My favorite condiment of the AM had to be their everything bagel seasoning called Popeth. Not only is Popeth a cute name but it actually also means everything in Welsh! The pro-tip they taught me which I will be recreating is to actually toast it slightly before serving - game changing.
Salt Harvesting
The time had officially come, it was time to harvest salt… SO exciting.
While one must be meticulous when working with this salt, the process is actually relatively simple:
Pump salt water from the sea + filter it
Heat the salt water for around a day in long trays
The heated salt will grow to the top and sink, grow and sink, grow and sink
The salt is harvested using big shovels (and then a smaller one as you can see in the video) and placed in separate trays. Halen Môn produces around 180 trays daily!
Once this salt is harvested it goes through ANOTHER process - it’s rinsed to remove any lingering chalk.
Halen Môn is the only company in the world (!!!!) that rinses their salt.
To do so, they rinse it in an extremely salty brine. Once the brine has reached its saturation point, it really cannot get any saltier. If the salt were to be rinsed in water, it would dissolve so this +35% salt brine concentrate is of the utmost importance!
This chalk is then sold to ceramicists and potters to use in the final glaze of their products. How neat is that!
The next and last step is to dry the salt and then package it up!
I was so surprised to see just how small scale this business is (both their factory and warehouse) but how big on an impact they have on worldwide cuisine. You can find Anglesey salt around the world in so many countries and it will always be the salt from this exact Halen Môn factory! The team of 20 is dedicated to their craft and were genuinely all such lovely people. It was a true treat to learn from them and get to taste their salt in the terroir they call home.
For the last stop of the trip we visited “Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch”. I kid you NOT.
Thank you so much to the Halen Môn team for their kindness and generosity. This was truly the experience of a lifetime. If you’d like to visit Anglesey, there are tours available to the public, a condiment shop of dreams, seaweed baths, and even a cafe during the warmer months.
As a ceramicist, I love that detail about the the chalk!
Popeth! What an adorable name! I'm going to keep an eye out for some Welsh salt now -- sounds like a perfect gift for the chefs and foodies in my life!