Linda’s newfangled saltwater storing device, aka a standard rectangular cooler.Back in the days when my husband and I were blissful DINK’s (double income no kids), I collected shoes. Whether we were in Tijuana, Mauritius, or the far-reaches of Eastern Romania, I’d shove my feet in the nearest pair — the weirder the better. After we acquired a height-of-the-market mortgage and had a son with a shoe habit that rivals his mommy’s, I had to switch to my backup plan: collecting salt.
In Hawaii there was the red alaea, which is coarse-ground and tastes of clay. In Sicily there was sea salt collected in pans and flavored by the coral in the water, and in St. Barts the splendor of a large salt pond rivalled that of the turquoise Caribbean waters. Soon, I had amassed a stockpile of more than 30 salts from around the world. My only rule was I had to have visited the source.
Then the salt-craze hit the U.S., and stores like Portland, Ore.’s The Meadow cropped up, selling hundreds of salts from far-flung locales. Even my local Whole Foods now carries over 15 types of salt. When my global collection became less rare, I began harvesting small ... Read more
