One of the oldest towns in the County of Essex, Maldon is situated at the head of the Blackwater estuary (the Blackwater derives its name from the word ‘brackwater’ meaning salty water).
The first documentary evidence of salt production in Essex was in the great Domesday survey of 1086. This lists no fewer than 45 salt pans in the Maldon area, four of which were said to have belonged to Edward the Confessor.
For hundreds of years salt continued to be skillfully harvested from the sea but in the 19th century the industry in Essex started to decline. The Essex Salt Traders slowly disappeared, and to this day only a single company carrying out this age-old tradition has survived - The Maldon Crystal Salt Company.
Maldon is the proud maker of Maldon Sea Salt, Organic Black Peppercorns, and Smoked Sea Salt, and Tidman’s Bath Salts and Natural Rock Salt.
Water for making Maldon Crystal Salt is gathered following a spell of dry weather called the ’spring tides,’ when the concentration of salt is at its highest. The salt water is transferred to huge holding tanks where it is allowed to settle. After carefully filtering the salt water, it is then drawn off to fill the saltpans. They are mounted on a system of brick flues that heat the saltwater.
- ‘Drawing the pans’ – The ancient craft of hand-harvesting, using the traditional long handled rakes, is still practiced today.
The furnaces initially burned coal (which was shipped from northern England), and they were fired by hand. It required considerable skill to maintain temperatures at a proper level during the boiling process. Today, the furnaces are burned by natural gas. As the seawater evaporates, salt crystals begin to form on the surface of the water, forming the tiny pyramids unique to Maldon Crystal Salt. Eventually, the crystals become heavy enough to sink to the bottom of the salt pan.
The saltpans cool overnight and are then drawn by using long handled rakes that rake the salt and put it into drainage bins before being dried and packaged.
Time-tested and gourmet-approved, Maldon’s soft, flaky white crystals are the quintessential seasoning experience.
