Have You Seen the Sparkling White Sea Salt Mountains?
Salt has been Bonaire's major industry for over 350 years, when they used to use slaves to do the back breaking labour. Now Cargill, one of the world's largest privately held companies owns the southern part of Bonaire since 1997 and uses it as a solar farm.
The sea salt created in Bonaire is a natural process of sea water, sunshine rays and easterly trade winds. Cargill fills man made ponds up with the Caribbean sea and lets them sit. As the water evaporates and the salt concentration increased the water turns into a pinky purple color admired by many tourists. Eventually the radiant sunshine and blowing wind evaporates all the water, leaving only crystals, which is then washed and dried again. It takes about a year for the whole process.
The salt is then loaded into ships to be taken away. Most of the salt ends up as an ice and snow melter for the winter streets in the U.S.
Ordinary table salt is mined from salt deposits, heat blasted and chemically treated. Through this process the table salt is stripped of all the other minerals aside from sodium and chloride. Bonaire's sea salt has iron, sulphur and magnesium. Sea salt doesn't contribute to high blood pressure like table salt. In fact sea salt has health benefits that include helping the liver, kidneys and adrenaline glands, it also improves the immune system.
It's not well known, but if you would like to purchase some of Bonaire's sea salt, visit the Cargill office. They will sell you 25 kg bags for under $10. There are four grades to choose from: fine, medium, coarse and large. The coarse and large salt crystals are perfect for skin remedies while the fine and medium are best for cooking. Return from Salt to Diving Bonaire Home |
But did you know that local restaurants use Bonaire salt for cooking? The benefits of cooking with sea salt as opposed to regular salt is worth it's weight in gold.