Food Salt. If you are near the ocean….you can have it

[AlaskaSue]

Just a bit of preps and thinking about how much we need salt. I live by the ocean…in fact, Alaska has over 6600 miles of coastline!

A few years ago I got involved with a great locovore group - had a challenge to ONLY partake of locally sourced foods (within Alaska) for 6 months. Grains, check. Meats/seafood, check. Veg, check. Fruit…maybe berries? Nuts, nope, sorry! Sweeteners, check. Salt….salt? Well, happened a couple guys had already done it…seawater evaporation to get what the ocean has. Not anywhere that boats moor…so bear that in mind

This website is pretty close to what they taught us. I did it a few years back, should really try again.

Just info for those of you interested

Foraging & Harvesting Sea Salt

Foraging & harvesting sea salt on your own is easier than you might think! All you need is a bucket, a pot and your stovetop.

thecapecoop.com

 

[mecoastie]

I have done this in the past. It is labor and time intensive. Yield was decent. You want to be careful as to where you get your seawater. Particularly post whatever disaster you envision as everything washes to the sea eventually. There is a Maine company that does this on large scale using mostly solar. If you were on or near the coast away from any major riversor harbors it could be a good post disaster occupation.

Maine Natural-Unrefined Sea Salt - Solar Evaporated - Hand Harvested in Maine

Natural-Unrefined sea salt, is solar-evaporated, and hand harvested in Maine. Salt seasonings are made with spices, & herbs; smoked salts begin over a smoky wood fire.

www.maineseasalt.com

 

[Wildwood]

Since I'm landlocked, this most likely will never apply to me but I've always wondered if cooking with ocean water would lend any salty taste at all to your food. Especially something that took a few hours to cook, like a pot of beans. As the water boils down and the beans absorb some of it, you have to keep adding more water so it would increase the saltiness a little more than something like potatoes that cook quickly.

When I was a kid, we lived in a little town in Oklahoma that got it's water from a well. It went dry and the well they dug in almost the same spot came in salty. With no money left in the budget, the city just had to live with it for a while. It wasn't as salty as ocean water but it made a nasty glass of sweet tea. We got transferred a little later so I never knew what they eventually did but they could have definitely made salt from that water but it would have taken a ton of it.