It’s something most of us use every day without a seconds thought. Primarily we use it in our food as a seasoning, although its uses go way beyond that. We are, of course, talking about salt, and before you say ‘salt is just salt‘ I can tell you that most certainly isn’t the case. I remember going in one store and it had shelves filled with the stuff, each one of them different.
There’s more to salt’s flavour than taste alone. Texture is really important, and in the case of good quality salt, size really does matter. Ticking all those boxes is the multi award-winning PEMBROKESHIRE SEA SALT CO. who have consistently been awarded Great Taste Awards for their hand-harvested sea salt range, since their establishment by Aberdare-born Sherrill Evans in 2016.
This year, they’ve gone and done it again. Their already award-winning Sea Salt With Saffron has scooped three stars; one of the highest accolades achieved by only 1.5% of all entries.
The Guild of Fine Foods is widely acknowledged as the world’s largest, longest standing and most respected food accreditation scheme for artisan and specialty food producers. Winners are judged in blind taste-testing, by panels made up of top chefs, restaurateurs, food writers and bloggers, retail buyers, cooks and fellow producers. The competition is fierce.
The Guild said……
‘Putting your food or drink to the test with our panel of over 500 experts is a quick way to get honest, straightforward and impartial feedback from chefs, buyers, food writers and retailers. Whether your product receives a 1-, 2- or 3-star accolade, Great Taste stars are highly respected seals of approval.’
Pembrokeshire Sea Salt currently have six Great Taste Award winning sea salts, and became Great Taste Producers in 2020. This year’s 3 star award has been the icing on the cake after a very difficult few years, with Covid greatly hampering the progress of their business. Hearing the news they had been awarded 3 stars naturally brightened Sherrill and Josh’s day up considerably! with the resulting feedback from the judges being……..
“Outrageously fabulous colour, the most glorious orange makes no mistake of the presence of saffron. That intriguing and elusive flavour of saffron is bright here and works well with the salt, two strong elements but harmonising here and sharing the limelight. A very happy pairing. Clever. The salt also has a good texture.”
“A truly stunning appearance, exquisite. The mineral content of the salt is both bold and full of flavour, the saffron shows signs of great quality, and is dancing a perfect waltz with the salt.”
“Wow, what a visually appealing salt. This salt was a glorious colour and saffron was evident. The salt had a wonderful crunch and coated the mouth. We could imagine a huge variety of uses.”
Pembrokeshire Sea Salt with Saffron was inspired by Sherrill and Josh’s travels to Morocco, where the air was filled with the scent of spices and streets filled with vibrant colour. Destined to be crumbled over white fish and creamy desserts, the salt takes on a deep golden hue and is streaked with red saffron strands, the most expensive spice in the world. Pembrokeshire Sea Salt Co. are dedicated to ensuring everything they produce is sustainable and ethical, so only use superior quality, hand-picked Saffron from reputable sources.
The sea salt they produce is harvested from a little cove nestled in the Pembrokeshire Coast National Park, famed for its beauty and the ruins of an old church depicted in their logo. The seawater is collected at high tide and travels just a mile, where it is distilled into award winning salt.
The process has very low environmental impact and is fully sustainable, as Pembrokeshire Sea Salt use renewable energy to form their salt crystals, which are sought after by chefs, producers and home cooks across the land.
‘Back in 2016 we were still trying to find waders that don’t leak, deciphering tide tables and analysing salinity data to create the perfect flake, so this is a dream come true.’
Having won Three Stars, Pembrokeshire Sea Salt with Saffron is automatically entered into the ‘Golden Fork’, the next stage of the competition to find the creme de la creme of Three Star winners, and the Supreme Champion will be announced on the 5th of September, so watch this space! We of course wish them the very best of luck.
You can find Pembrokeshire Sea Salt’s award winning products at selected stockists around the UK or just head to their website HERE.
