Things You Should Buy in France Part I of X

1. Fleur de sel, "Finishing salt"

Fleur de sel is hand-harvested sea salt that contains more mineral complexity than regular table salt. There are four regions of France that produce fleur de sel and each has their own distinctive qualities. Fleur de sel is considered a finishing salt because you do not use it directly while cooking because it dissolves too quickly, but rather to sprinkle on finished dishes as the grains of salt add texture and a unique taste when consumed.

Fleur de sel from Guérande is considered the very best salt in France and prices will reflect that.  The best artisinal sel de Guérande can cost as much as 85,00 euros a kilo. Make sure when you buy your Guérandais salt that it bears a stamp indicating it is true Guérande salt. Most French products that come from a certain region are known as les terroirs.

I bought my sel de Guérande when I was in Brittany in a beautiful glass jar with a wide mouth and a cork stopper and it cost 22,00 euros for 150 grams. It also came with a really adorable little wooden scoop that was unfortunately lost when I moved. I still get my salt from the same place because when I visited I was offered a little tour of this charming couple's salt flats. The husband's family has been hand harvesting sel de fleur in Guérande for over 100 years, so I like to give them a little business since they only sell in little shops in their area.

If you'd like to take a tour of the salines, you can find more information here via La Maison des Paludiers.

Another type of fleur de sel found in France is harvested from Noirmoutier-en-Ile. I've rarely seen this salt even in fancy shops in Paris. It's not as reknowned as sel de Guérande, but if you can find it I would definitely buy it and sprinkle the grains over Noirmoutier potatoes.

These special potatoes are known as "La Bonnotte" and sell for about 500,00 euros a kilo and only 100 tons are harvested each year. The La Bonnotte potato fields are fertilised with seaweed and algae from the sea and have a distinctive earthy flavour and a natural saltiness of their own. I've cooked with them the first time myself when I bought them from the epicerie shop at the Bon Marché department store and I'm glad I did because my grandmother loved them and it was the last time I ever cooked for her before she passed away. She used them from time to time when she had her restaurant and would often joke about moving there to become a potato farmer because then she at least eat them more often. I always serve La Bonnotte potatoes on her birthday since my grandmother was born on May 1st, which is the first day of the La Bonnotte harvest, though usually not too many of them because of their price and I always garnish them with sel de Camargue, which was her favourite type of fleur de sel and for most things, mine too.

Sel de Camargue is the last fleur de sel of France I would recommend buying either for your own cooking or for someone you know who cooks. But first things first. Do not buy sel de Camargue in a grocery store, go to Camargue directly. Why? Because it's one of the most beautiful places in all of France and buying salt is just a good a reason as any to visit.

Camargue is located south of Arles between the Mediterranean sea and the two arms of the Rhone river delta known as Le Grand Rhone and Le Petit Rhone. It is a preserved wetland and is home to over 400 species of birds, including Pink Flamingos who get their colour from eating plants found in the saltmarsh waters.

It is also home to the Camargue bull and the Camargue horse. The Camargue horse is used by the gardians, who are the closest thing to cowboys in France. The gardians used the horses to rear the Camargue bulls for bullfighting either in France or in Spain. They are always grey in colour, meaning they have a white coat over black skin, and much like Arabian horses are born either black or brown and become whiter with age. Growing up I had a few chances to ride a grignon and there are more than a few places where you can rent and ride Camargue horses in the area.

Much like the flamingos get their colour from what they eat, sel de Camargue is also slightly pink but it gets its flavour from the violets that grow wild in the area, which makes it best for Provencal cooking. My preferred brand of sel de Camargue is one from La Baleine, which is a salt company that sells many different type of salt in France, but this one is very special because it is hand raked and collected and each container is hand signed by the collector of the salt in your container.

My suggestion? Take the train from Paris to Arles. Once in Arles visit the bullfighting stadium and Roman ruins (Arles is a UNESCO heritage site), eat, buy lots of Provencal fabrics (that inspired Christian Lacroix as a boy), and then rent a car and drive down to Camargue makign sure to visit Aigues-Mortes (dead waters), which is one of the finest examples of a well-preserved medieval city in France (the others being most notably Carcassonne, St. Malo, and Provins). Once in Aigues Mortes drop by La Baleine for a tour and buy your salt (in bulk if practical). Your hotel will likely be full of brochures for these type of tours, so just see which one you want to take. Also if you're into kayaking, ask the concierge at the hotel to recommend a place where you can rent a kayak and get close to the flamingoes. I've only done it once but it was a truly beautiful experience because I was able to get pretty close before they stalked off.

But back to salt again. Of all the salts I've recommended sel de Guérande is the most notable, but not always the most expensive or the best depending on your recipe and while I do use it regularly the one thing I must say cannot be consumed without sel de Guérande is a grilled entrecote. If you have never had a perfectly cooked (à point being the most an entrecote should ever be cooked through so that the very inside is warm but still quite red) entrecote with sel de Guérande you are missing out on a combination (especially when served just a little butter and freshly chopped parsley) that will make your mouth very, very happy.

If you've enjoyed reading this be sure to check back as I plan to write a ten part series. I thought I could fit all ten things into one blog post, but apparently not!

Next in the series I'll write about artisinal honey, many types of which are only available in France.