EDEN Portuguese Sea Salt is from the renowned environmentally protected salt marshes of southern Portugal, Algarve (al-gar-vay) province, one of Earth's most beautiful seashores. Located at the mouth of the Mediterranean Sea this region has supplied salt to the entire known world for millennia.

It is believed the Phoenicians originally built the clay salt basins called 'salinas' and later the Moors and Romans worked them. Salt is hand harvested in the same manner used there for over 3,000 years. The Algarve region is ideal for sea salt production with its sunny climate, dry Atlantic winds, and hot winds that blow from North Africa.

All these assist the evaporation process together with minimal rainfall helps produce a pure, naturally white sea salt. The salinas of Algarve are a complex system of lagoons interconnected by canals. The footpath banks are planted with hedges that resist erosion during winter storms.

The Atlantic flows into the canals filling the man-made patchwork of rectangular, hard sun-baked clay salinas. Evaporation from sun and wind transform the sea into a layer of large coarse crystals called 'sal marinho tradicional' or traditional sea salt. The crystals are hand harvested by the 'marenotos' or salters using a long rake to gather the crystals.

Using strong, swift strokes the marenoto draw them to one side of each basin. Using shovels the crystals are moved to a dry basin and piled into pyramids that become several feet high as harvest season progresses. These coarse crystals dry further and are moved to an area where sea water washing removes sand and seaweed.

Sun dried again the crystals are sea water bathed again. Water is then centrifuged out. This cleaning process is repeated several times, brightening the salt while preserving flavor and nutrients. The crystals are then milled and sifted to ensure a consistent grain and sent to a dryer where warm air reduces moisture content to 0.01%.