Salmarim – Flor de Sal

Salmarim is the salt business of Jorge Raiado and Sandra Madeira, who in 2007 took up the salt pans worked by Sandra's father at Moinho das Meias, on the edge of Castro Marim in the eastern Algarve. The pans lie inside the Castro Marim and Vila Real de Santo António Salt Marsh Nature Reserve, beside the mouth of the Guadiana. Their main product is flor de sal, the thin layer of crystals that forms on the surface of the water on hot, dry summer days, alongside traditional coarse sea salt.

Everything here depends on natural processes. Sea water enters through the creeks on spring tides, moves from pond to pond by gravity and evaporates in the sun and wind until the salt crystallises. The flor de sal is skimmed by hand, dried in the sun and packed without additives. The producers held artisanal product certificates from Sativa and Nature & Progrès for many years and state that since 2022 their salt has been certified organic by Organic Farmers & Growers. According to them, the stable water level of the working pans allows birds such as black-winged stilts to nest.

The range includes natural flor de sal, versions flavoured with herbs and spices, and coarse salt, some of it sold in reusable cork salt cellars. Jorge and Sandra have long received small groups at the salt pans to explain the harvest and the wildlife of the marsh; the harvest takes place in summer, and visits should be arranged with them in advance. Castro Marim is a short drive from Vila Real de Santo António, where the Algarve railway line ends.