First, a little history about me and salt. A couple of years after I starting importing extra virgin olive oil, I read about a group of Portuguese microbiologists who’d inadvertently become harvesters of flor de sal, aka fleur de sel. The “flower of salt” is the crystalline bloom that occurs when supersaturated brine can’t hold the salt any longer, and the mineral precipitate forms a delicate rime on the quiet surface of the salt pond.

For a few hours, if the wind doesn’t blow, those crystals can be carefully skimmed off before they grow large enough to sink. Chemically identical to the larger crystal raked from the bottom of the same ponds, flor de sal is special because of its structure, a light flake that crumbles easily and melts on the tongue. Salt is a flavor enhancers, and flor de sal makes food taste really good.

Anyway, while I was reading the Kummer piece I realized that my own eating had evolved to the point that I drizzled extra virgin olive oil and cranked my salt grinder over my plate at almost every meal. Expanding my young business to include this salt seemed to make sense. I googled Necton, the Portuguese salt company, fired off an email, and after several months of discussion, imported a pallet of flor de sal.

My customers loved it, and I had an endless supply for myself, a key aspect of my approach to business. About five years ago a new company in Seattle formed to be the primary importer and distributor for Necton in the US, and I purchased flor de sal from them. But a few months ago the supply dried up, and I’ve had to start the process to import more myself.

The good news is that the first shipment, several cases of flor de sal shipped by air from Portugal, have arrived in Portland. The bad news: the salt is sitting in a bonded warehouse out by the airport, waiting to clear customs, so I may not have it for today’s warehouse sale at Activspace.