Jónsson of Saltverk at work in his Westfjords facility in Iceland.
Saltverk
Björn Steinar Jónsson used to work at IBM. Now he hand harvests salt from the Westfjords of Iceland. It’s a profession change that’s introduced him nearer to dwelling in Iceland and nearer to nature.
A decade in the past, Jónsson was working in Copenhagen on the tech big and had accomplished his engineering research. As a meals lover, he had additionally labored in eating places. This was through the rise of the Nordic meals motion and the popularization of Noma as a world-famous and sought-after restaurant celebrating Nordic delicacies.
Jónsson, a local of Reykjavik, got here again to Iceland and spent per week harvesting salt in a northwesterly area of Iceland, after studying numerous books on the artwork of sea salt. He honed in on an space that was a salt farm again within the seventeenth century however had lengthy since stopped working.
As a novice, it took him one week to fetch about 100 grams of salt. He introduced that salt again to the town and offered it to one among Iceland’s most notable cooks: Gunnar Karl Gíslason of DILL (the primary Michelin-starred restaurant within the nation). He was .
That was the start of Jónsson’s journey as a meals entrepreneur and because the founding father of Saltverk. Utilizing geothermal power, he arrange a facility within the Westfjords, the place a small staff of 6 now harvest salt 12 months spherical — together with within the harsh Icelandic winters. Geothermal power, a results of Iceland’s distinctive positioning on two tectonic planets, is plentiful on the island. However capturing it was not straightforward, Jónsson says. “It broke our tools and we had some failures at first however lastly received it to work.”
The geothermal power enabled Jónsson to evaporate the ocean water within the purest of how, abandoning lovely crystals of salt, wealthy in minerals. Not like salts produced in industrial settings, sea salts are freed from caking brokers and components, he explains, and have added advantages corresponding to a excessive magnesium content material.
What began as a one-man journey has was a fruitful artisanal enterprise, supporting 15 workers, and attracts lots of of vacationers in the summertime months visiting Iceland to see their store within the Westfjords and pattern the array of salts, which characteristic distinctive Icelandic components corresponding to Arctic thyme, grown wild on the island. “This thyme is just discovered right here in Iceland, on the Faroe Islands, and in Greenland. We’ve got a farmer who collects it for us, and it has its personal distinctive scent,” Jónsson says.
However going again to Jónsson’s preliminary foray with cooks, the salts have been a success with award-winning cooks in Europe. Utilized in well-known kitchens corresponding to Noma, the salts are prized for his or her purity, taste, and their distinctive manufacturing strategies, which communicate to the provenance of the meals. “And as a few of these cooks have since left Noma, they’ve taken our salts and their story to their subsequent kitchen or office.”
But, because the pandemic shut down eating places, Jónsson says they noticed a spike in on-line gross sales direct-to-consumers, suggesting that salt lovers have been nonetheless eager to come up with them. “They could appear dear, however you actually solely want somewhat bit to allow them to go a great distance,” he explains.
Promoting primarily within the US and EU, Jónsson is acutely aware of the corporate’s footprint. Thus, all their stock is shipped by sea (not air) and housed in two warehouses, one on every continent. Moreover, the corporate now undergoes an audit to find out their carbon footprint; to compensate for the transportation footprint, they’re planting bushes. All of the merchandise are additionally bought in glass jars, refraining from pointless plastics.
Being an eco-conscious firm, Jónsson says is integral, given they supply from the Earth and stay in such a singular panorama the place local weather change may be seen first-hand.
Extreme climate on the finish of 2019 offered some critical challenges for Saltverk when the staff noticed a few of the worst climate they’ve encountered in a long time. Arctic winds climbing to chart-busting speeds broken their facility within the Westfjords, requiring a pause in manufacturing.
Their different choices embrace a lava salt that speaks to Iceland’s topography (although the salt is coloured with activated charcoal, the one extra ingredient used); a birch-smoked salt, utilizing birch from the area and mimicking a smoked-meat technique; and a licorice salt that celebrates Scandinavia’s love for the flavour.
In an period when so many new meals companies are incorporating a wide range of unique components, Jónsson has stored it easy and as a substitute targeted on the standard of his hero ingredient. And that’s his recommendation to different meals entrepreneurs as effectively: “Management each a part of your provide chain and know every little thing about it,” he says.