Exploring the Adventure and Artistry of Producing the World’s Favorite Seasoning
A Sacred Valley
of Salt
By Linda Jesseph Szymanski
For thousands of years, the ancient art of salt making has been found in literally every
region of the world. It has been used in trade as money and was once worth its weight in
gold. Each crystalline structure, each nuance of flavor and crunch are all individual to
the source and local methodologies of producing this prized commodity. Harvested from
oceans and seas around the world and mined from deep within high mountain ranges,
ancient sea-beds of the past, this world’s favorite seasoning is an adventure all its own.
O
n a narrow, eroding dirt road high in the Andean Mountains of Peru, winding down a steep cliff-face to the Salinas de Maras, you
catch your breath as an almost unbelievable vista unfolds before you. In an unparalleled and breathtaking patch-work of pinks,
tans and browns reach as far as the eye can see, you behold the Salinas Maras, the ancient salt
pans of the Sacred Valley of Peru. Once the capital of the Inca Empire, the legendary 15thcentury city of Machu Picchu sits majestically at one end of the valley and is the fertile homeland of the Inca Empire (1438 to 1533). Known as the "Land of the Four Quarters" or Tahuantinsuyu the Inca empire stretched north to south some 2,500 miles along the high mountainous Andean range from Colombia to Chile
and reached west to east from the dry
coastal desert called Atacama to the
steamy Amazonian rain forest. The Inca
Ancient Incan Gold Mask
© Carlos Santa Maria/Santa
Empire was the largest nation on Earth at
the height of its existence and remains the largest native state to have existed in the
western hemisphere.
Today this is a transcendent region – also known as the Urubamba or Sacred Valley, it
is a quiet expanse of country that is steeped in Andean history and culture where the
Salinas “salt pans”,
originally constructed
by the Incas, have
been handed down
through countless
generations of Peruvians. These industrious people harvest
the clay-lined salt
ponds or flats, pounding out the evaporated salt under the hot sun, wearing wide-brimmed hats and traditional woven Andean dress. Visitors can
trek down and around the flats where small vendor stands sell bags of
this variously pink-hued, delicious salt.
The salt itself actually comes from brine
waters of an ancient ocean that rests
beneath the Andean mountains. It bubbles to the surface from a spring called Qoripujio and is channeled into the clay-lined plots throughout the valley where the sun and wind evaporate the water leaving
behind this delicate, mineral-rich pink salt.
Sagrada Rosa™ Pink Peruvian Salt
Each pond yields about 300 Peruvian Nuevo Sol’s-worth (approximately $115 USD) per month. A family often owns many pools and
works diligently for six months out of the year when the sun is high and hot enough to evaporate the water. An entire cooperative of
families run the market selling salts and other hand-made items that line the path to the salt pans. They divide the proceeds from
ticket sales to visit the mines (7 Sol per ticket, or approximately $3.00 USD). Salting can be good business! This beautiful salt, Sagrada
Rosa™ named for it delicate pink hue, can be enjoyed on a wide variety of foods such as fresh fish, vegetables, freshly baked breads
and even sprinkled on chocolate ice cream!
NOTES ON GOOD HEALTH:
Natural, unrefined salts are paramount to good and healthy eating in today’s world of overly-refined, processed foods. A true gift
from Mother Nature, these beautiful, natural salts from around the world deliver over 84 vital minerals to our bodies helping to keep
our vital body pH in balance and ensuring proper cellular handling of fluids in our cells as well as many other important and vital bodily functions working as they were designed.
More on the Incas . . .
THE TERRACES OF MORAY
Often thought of as an Incan agricultural laboratory, the stair-stepped terraces of Moray,
only a few miles from the Sacred Valley, do indeed offer a unique variety of microclimates– being warmest at the bottom in the center and coolest at the top. It is thought
that the Incas used these terraces to test different crops where cross-bred varieties were
created and new foreign crops tested. Another group of scientists and historians purport
the theory that it was just an ingenious means of growing warmer climate maíz or corn in
the local cold climate. Whoever is right, this archaeological site of concentric circles of
terraced farms, forming craters in the landscape, are a fascinating sight to behold!