Looking to buy Celtic sea salt? Here you'll find our Celtic sea salt: coarse, grey sea salt from the salt pans along the coast of Brittany in France, also known as sel gris. You can buy it in 250 g or 1 kg packs. You'll also find our Fleur de Sel de Guérande here, the fine crystals from the top layer of the salt pan. Both salts are unrefined and free from additives, so there is no anti-caking agent.
Celtic sea salt: 1 kg or 250 g?
- Celtic sea salt 1 kg: plenty in stock if you cook with coarse sea salt every day, and the best value per kilo.
- Celtic sea salt 250 g: handy for getting to know sel gris, or to keep next to the stove.
- Fleur de Sel de Guérande: 250 grams of fine, crunchy salt crystals from Guérande. Organic and harvested by hand, for finishing dishes.
The 1 kg and 250 g packs contain the same salt. If you cook with coarse salt every day, go for the kilo. If you'd like to find out first whether you like the coarse, slightly moist salt, start with 250 grams. Read what else to look out for when buying it in Buying Celtic sea salt: what to look for.
Fleur de sel: the top layer
Fleur de sel literally means 'flower of salt'. On warm, dry days with little wind, a thin layer of salt crystals forms on the water of the salt pans. Salt farmers carefully skim off this layer by hand. Because this only works in the right weather, fleur de sel is scarce. Celtic sea salt comes from the bottom of the salt pan and is coarser and moister. Sprinkle fleur de sel over your food just before serving, so the crystals stay crunchy. For cooking, coarse Celtic sea salt is the better choice.
How do you use Celtic sea salt?
Use it as you would any other salt: in pasta water, soups, stews, sauces and bread, or to season vegetables, meat and fish. A little over salad, grilled vegetables or freshly baked bread just before serving works well too. Because the salt is coarse and a little moist, a metal salt grinder can jam. A mortar or a ceramic grinder works better, or you can rub it fine between your fingers. You can also make a sole with it: salt dissolved in water. Find out how in Drinking Celtic sea salt: how to make a sole. It is still salt, though: the Health Council of the Netherlands advises adults to have no more than 6 grams of salt a day, and that includes Celtic sea salt.
Celtic sea salt or Himalayan salt?
Celtic sea salt is sea salt: sun and wind evaporate seawater in salt pans. It is grey, coarse and slightly moist. Himalayan salt is rock salt from ancient salt layers in the Punjab region of Pakistan. It is pink because of traces of iron oxide, coarse and suitable for a salt grinder. Both consist mostly of sodium chloride. The difference lies mainly in taste, texture and origin. In Celtic sea salt vs. Himalayan salt we compare the two.
Origin and lab testing
Our Celtic sea salt comes from the salt pans along the coast of Brittany. There, seawater flows into shallow salt pans, sun and wind evaporate the water, and the crystals are traditionally gathered with wooden rakes. Contact with the clay bed gives the salt its grey colour. Because it is not dried or refined, it stays slightly moist. Our fleur de sel comes from Guérande in Brittany and is organic. Both salts are tested for quality and purity by an independent lab. Read how Celtic sea salt differs from ordinary table salt in Celtic sea salt and how it differs from table salt.
Looking for a different salt? Browse all our natural salts, or read in types of salt which natural salts there are and what to use them for.
