100% West Coast of Scotland sea water and nothing else.
At Blackthorn, they understand that Salt is the single most transformative ingredient of all time. Clean and unrefined, the taste of their Salt is everything a discerning palate requires – sweet, with a mouth-watering tang. Used cleverly it can transform the mediocre, enhance a range of flavours or add a suggestion of rolling moreishness and sophistication to any meal.
The crucial crystal crunch factor is a given - they always encourage ‘by hand’ sprinkling if only to experience this satisfaction, but also to ensure the exact distribution and grain size that you desire on each occasion.
At Blackthorn, they use 100% Scottish west coast sea water and nothing else. There are no illusions: no adding, no seeding, no bleaching, just pure Scottish sea salt. When you taste Blackthorn Salt you taste nature – the sea, the winds and the thorns.
Blackthorn's ways are patient, gentle and sustainable: Scottish West Coast sea water is slowly trickled through the country’s only graduation thorn tower whilst being evaporated by the exhilarating West Coast winds. The first stages of the Blackthorn journey are wild and solely require nature: West Coast seas and winds.
Reminiscent of a Brothers Grimm fairy tale, their imposing tower of thorns sits facing the sea and the mountains of Arran. This spiky structure is incredibly effective as well as being visually impressive: it enables a significant acceleration of the evaporation process required for sea salt production. Sea water is dribbled through 54 wooden taps and a series of channels which are checked and adjusted daily according to the weather. The sea water seeps along every twig and thorn, maximising exposure to the powerful and persistent coastal winds (and any sun that might be showing face). The emerging droplets partially evaporate and any remaining liquid becomes a more concentrated brine.
The final stage is all skill and alchemy: they take the now exceptionally salty brine, add their skilled Salters with their intricate knowledge of the salt, some gentle heat and nothing else... at all.
It took years to perfect this unique method of harnessing the wind and sea to ensure they create a better salt, a ‘salt of the world’ as well as ‘for the world’ and one to be proud of.
Scottish West Coast Seawater is the single ingredient at Blackthorn, every flake is the product of their sustainable Thorn Tower method. Slowly grown and harvested by hand, these natural crystals enhance flavours like no other. The distinctive mineral array has been carefully retained giving characteristics which complement the palate incredibly well. With a nod to each of the 5 basic tastes, each crystal has a completeness that is rarely found: in Blackthorn there is magnesium and potassium which provide bitter and sour notes, calcium for the sweetness, sodium chloride for the salty and even tannins from the Blackthorn branches for that earthy savoury element, giving a hint of umami and an incredibly long-lasting taste sensation.
Blackthorn is often considered to be a finishing salt that will give a beautiful, lasting, moreish and clarity to flavours, but customers also use Blackthorn for sauces, baking, roasting, brining/ dry-brining, curing, salting, fermenting, you name it, there is no prescription. If you are not sure, we recommend starting with small amounts (it does give bigger flavour after all), experimenting and taste testing: let your palate lead you!
