Meet the Irish sea salt producers
I recently spent several nights away for work, staying on the outskirts of Paris in my company’s European university campus. It’s a custom-built learning environment, capable of hosting 250 odd attendees and faculty members at a time.
With that many people on site, the catering and hospitality side of the facility is just as important as the learning environment. Over the course of 4 days, I was impressed by the variety and wellness of the food, especially the wide range of excellent French cheese on offer every day. The French are proud of their produce (rightly so) and share it every chance they can.
Every table in the dining room had a little pot of fleur de sel (French sea salt), of which I made generous use during my meals. I’ve always been on the salty side, taste wise as as well as character, and I love good salt. Fine salt for cooking, crunchy salt for texture and charring, salt flakes for delicate crunch. It’s all good.
Here in Ireland, we’ve got plenty of salt all around us. We’re on an island after all, and there are a small number of producers dotted around the island who are bringing that salty goodness into our homes. Read on to learn more.
Achill Island Sea Salt, Achill Island, Co Mayo
The O’Malley family started Achill Island Sea Salt after watching a documentary about the lost tradition of salt making on their westerly island. Having started out in the family kitchen, the crunchy salt is now produced in a custom facility, via a small batch, slow evaporation process.
Currently available in three flavours (natural, seaweed and smoked), these little glass pots are a pretty addition to any kitchen counter. In a clever move, they also sell a small tin of salt, perfect for stashing in handbags or pockets for a salty top up on the go.
Achill Island Sea Salt is used by many confectioners right around the island, including fudge from Mella’s Fudge, sea-salted cashew nut nougat from Miena’s Homemade Nougat, salted caramel hot chocolate from Grá Chocolates and gorgeous chocolate bars from Skelligs Chocolate.
Dingle Sea Salt, Dún Chaoin, Co Chiarraí
Tom and Moe met through their shared love of surfing, and started experimenting with making sea salt together in 2019. Their goal was a find an environmentally friendly, low energy evaporation process, which they perfected in 2021 with the launch of Dingle Sea Salt, a crunchy sea salt.
As well as being an environmentally conscious product, Dingle Sea Salt comes in beautiful ceramic jars with a cork lid. Refill pouches are also available meaning that you can keep that lovely jar on your table for ages. Look out for their ‘saltscription’ service which would make a lovely gift for the food lover in your life.
Irish Atlantic Sea Salt, Beara, Co Cork
Michael and Aileen O’Neill’s flaky IrishAtlantic Sea Salt comes right from ruggedly gorgeous Beara Peninsula. Their slow production process ensures that the salt retains over fifty trace elements, and the gentle flaky texture is perfect for putting the finishing touch to dishes.
Available in natural and flavoured versions, this unique salt is also used by Keogh’s in the production of their Irish Atlantic Sea Salt crisps.
Mussenden Sea Salt, Coleraine, Co Derry
The only Northern Ireland entry, Mussenden Sea Salt hails from Ireland’s stunning Causeway Coast, in the shadow of the distinctive Mussenden Temple.
A naturally moist sea salt with a crunchy texture, founder Clare O’Kane is passionate about leaving a zero impact, as well as creating a fantastic product. Mussenden Sea Salt is available in natural and flavoured versions.
Oriel Sea Salt, Clogherhead, Co Louth
Located at the foot of the Mourne Mountains, Oriel Sea Salt has been in business since 2010. Unlike most other Irish producers, Oriel produce a fine sea salt, perfect for cooking. Their natural sea salt retains a slight moistness, while the kiln dried version is fine and free flowing. Due the production process, the salt can contain up to 25% less sodium than commercial products.
In a clever collaboration with Teeling Whiskey, they also produce a smoked whiskey sea salt, which is made by smoking Oriel sea salt using whiskey infused oak. The end result adds a lovely dimension to food, or for finishing dishes and cocktails.
Salt of Kinsale, Kinsale, Co Cork
Described as ‘a hand-harvested, finishing sea salt’, Salt of Kinsale is made from the waters around the Old Head of Kinsale. The production process is completely sustainable, relying only on the wind and sunshine to slowly evaporate the seawater.
Salt of Kinsale is now available for sale in shops around Kinsale, and look out for the distinctive ceramic pots designed by local ceramic artist Lisa Wilson.
West of Dingle, Ballyferriter, Co Kerry
Chef Brian and potter Marie are the producers behind West of Dingle, a range of natural sea salts from the Dingle Peninsula. They’ve just added sea salt flakes to their product line up, which already includes crunchy sea salt, flavoured salts and a smokehouse rub.
Pair with their terracotta pot and mussel shell spoon for maximum impact.
Wexford Sea Salt, Blackwater, Co Wexford
The Irish-Polish duo of Kevin and Jack N’Guinan are the team behind Wexford Sea Salt, one of the newest Irish salts on the market. Like many Irish producers, they make careful use of the Irish wind and sun to craft a slowly-evaporated crunchy sea salt.
Recently, the pair found themselves celebrating at their very first Blas na hÉireann Awards, where they were awarded Gold for their natural sea salt flakes.
This is great , I’m always getting the Himalayan salt but I’ll definitely get the local salt now