Grey sea salt (sel gris)

Sel gris de Guérande

What it is

The paludiers move seawater by gravity alone through clay basins laid out in the Middle Ages, and let sun and wind take it to saturation. Grey salt is what settles on the clay floor and is raked up damp; fleur de sel is only the thin crust that forms on the surface on a dry, windy afternoon.

In the kitchen

It stays damp and will not pass through a grinder — dissolve it for brines and pasta water, or crush it under a blade. Ten grams per litre of cooking water is the working dose and needs nothing added.

Goes with

Potato Butter Cod Lamb Tomato Olive oil Beef

Same species

Alaea red Hawaiian salt Sodium bicarbonate Fleur de sel de Guérande Himalayan pink salt Kala namak (Indian black salt) Kansui

In season alongside

Japanese abalone Belon flat oyster Brown shrimp Clam Lobster coral Dog cockle

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