I know there is a salt museum near Caleta but is there anywhere else (preferably in Corralejo) you can buy Fuerteventura produced salt? Is it available in supermarkets? at the airport gourmet food shop perhaps?
I've just about run out of my Camargue Fleur de Sel and I'm looking for a good quality replacement
You can buy salt in the Museum in Cotillo up at the lighthouse or at the Market in La Oliva (Tues and Thurs).
Don't think Flor de Sal is available here but if you are ever in Lanzarote you can buy it from the Salinas (open Mon-Fri) in Janubio which is 20 mins from the port on the way to El Golfo. €7 for 200g but worth every cent!
Salt from the Museum was available yesterday (20 Nov 2013) at the artisan shop in the airport departures area.
35 cents for 500g in plastic bags
When I was over in October, I was able to buy salt at the Tuesday/Saturday market in Caleta.
Maybe for sale in the Corrrie market.
They had 2 size bags, a small one for about 50 cent and a large one for a Euro.
I bought the large bag, but found the salt very damp when I brought it home. Dried it in the overn and ground it in a coffee bean grinder, hey presto, fine salt.
Haven't opened mine yet but it looks what you might call "lumpy" and I call "just right" to grind and sprinkle between thumb and finger. Airing cupboard might be a better place for me to dry it (once I get the post-holiday laundry done and out of there!!).
Bringing a bag of white crumbly powder back through UK customs could be viewed with suspicion. Best to tuck it inside the lining of your bag where it won't be seen.
Quote from: isleswing on November 21, 2013, 16:03:27 PM
Bringing a bag of white crumbly powder back through UK customs could be viewed with suspicion. Best to tuck it inside the lining of your bag where it won't be seen.
LOL :D :D :D :D :D
You can buy it in Corralejo at the Sunday morning market at El Campenario.
I opened the packet last night to season a pheasant breast. Wonderful!!!
Almost like sea water distilled. None of that nasty chemical after-taste you get from regular salt.
I recommend it to all of you
Charlie,
Where do they hold the market in La Oliva on a Tuesday and Thursday?
http://www.fuerteventura-forum.com/index.php?topic=15535.0 (http://www.fuerteventura-forum.com/index.php?topic=15535.0)
Thank you Charlie
Back over in June. Need to top up my salt supply.
Is it still for sale at the airport in the Crafts from Fuerteventura shop (at the south end of the shops)?
Will be bringing back a couple of kilos because people here are so impressed with the taste.
Did not know the market is open Tuesday as well, if it is that's great, shopping and fish and chips at Chaplins...sorted.
cbeal...you know the market isn't up by Chaplins any more? It moved about a year ago. Nothing to stop you walking up the hill to Appy's Chaplins though ;)
Thanks Hev will do.
Bump - does anyone have the answer to my question? Is salt still available at the airport?
I'd rather buy it at the airport. if possible, as otherwise it would be in my case/carry-on and count against my luggage allowance. I do the same with cheese (there is no significant price difference between airport and supermarkets) as that way, I get my carry-on out of the car at when I get home and it goes strainght into the fridge, rather than sit in the car overnight.
Bump again - someone must be coming back thorugh the airport in the next couple of weeks
One last bump. I fly out next week
Did anyone coming back to the UK on yesterday's (Wednesday's) flights notice whether salt was for sale in the airport artisan shop?
Quote from: hairybiker on May 09, 2014, 13:51:52 PM
Bump - does anyone have the answer to my question? Is salt still available at the airport?
I'd rather buy it at the airport. if possible, as otherwise it would be in my case/carry-on and count against my luggage allowance. I do the same with cheese (there is no significant price difference between airport and supermarkets) as that way, I get my carry-on out of the car at when I get home and it goes strainght into the fridge, rather than sit in the car overnight.
You are not supposed to import dairy products into the UK. Watch out you might get searched. I miss taking back cheese from Fven.
Vela - I think you'll find that the HMRC guidelines say that the Canaries are treated the same as EU countries for the purpose of importing food from The Canaries into Britain and therefore you can take dairy products.
Sorry Hairy Biker, this doesn't help your salt quest!
Quote from: vela gonzales on May 28, 2014, 19:22:47 PM
You are not supposed to import dairy products into the UK. Watch out you might get searched. I miss taking back cheese from Fven.
Since when has salt been a dairy product?
Thank you Tamara. You are correct. I specifically went through the Red channel in customs on one occasion just to ask whether I needed to declare Majero cheese from Fuerte and I was told that I didn't as it was within the EU. Freezes well too (the semi-curado)
I have contacted the Museo de Sal directly with my question and they tell me the the Artisan shop has 500g bags. Very quick and helpful respose. They also tell me that the shop is now by Gates 9-10. Wish I'd thought of that approach earlier!!
So airport shopping list is 1Kg cheese (14 Euros, same as supermarkets, and 3Kg salt)
An update on my return.
Salt was available at the Campanario craft market on sunday. But this was in small tubs (probably 100g) and I didn't bother asking the price.
I checked the local supermarkets, but I couldn't find this local product anywhere. I was not surprised at this. But you can get Maldon Sea Salt - go figure!!!
At the airport, first stop was the re-located craft shop which is now the only shop open in the new area at the north end of departures.
NO SALT!!!
I asked the lady behind the counter and she told me that they hadn't received any supplies fora few weeks as the museum hadn't been able to produce the salt due to the weather.
When I expressed my extreme disappointment (I wanted 2 kilos) , she very kindly nipped to the back of the shop and found a damaged and re-wrapped bag (about 350g) which she gave me for free. I had also purchsed a cheese so was obviously not just a blagger.
I'll just have to use the good stuff carefully until I can stock up in November
Like yourself, I think sea foam salt, hand made on the island, makes a great gift for others. It is one of the few consumable products one can take back to the mother country.
I too asked about the salt at the airport. Hopefully our requests will give them a greater incentive to carry it.
Quote from: SoCal on June 22, 2014, 09:48:43 AM
I too asked about the salt at the airport. Hopefully our requests will give them a greater incentive to carry it.
I don't think that it is greater incentives that are needed, it is the right weather, or it is according to the lady in the shop.
I feel like an idiot as I recommended it to a number a people on their way home during my stay, and they were probably also disappointed. But, on the bright side, the number of requests may have been recognised as a sign of demand for the salt.
I shall get back in touch with the Museo de Sal to find out what the problem was.
No sea foam salt (flor de sal) on Fuerteventura.
Neighter on Lanzarote.
They do make it on la Palma.
Price Fuerte seasalt: 20 kg for €4,-
There is another place you CANNOT buy salt. The Salt Museum at Las Salinas - fab. so Fuerteventura!
Thank for that Spike.
I was just working out how to get there on my next trip. Saved me a bus journey for a grey/wet day November day
Was it that they DON'T ever sell it or, like the airport, they'd just run out due to adverse (for making salt) weather?
Quote from: erik_tonny on June 26, 2014, 15:44:23 PM
No sea foam salt (flor de sal) on Fuerteventura.
Neighter on Lanzarote.
They do make it on la Palma.
Price Fuerte seasalt: 20 kg for €4,-
You can buy Flor de sal from las salinas in Lanzarote. On the road to El Golfo
Salt from las Salinas Fuerteventura is always available from the lighthouse museum in El Cotillo
Quote from: Charlie dont surf on June 26, 2014, 22:01:28 PM
Salt from las Salinas Fuerteventura is always available from the lighthouse museum in El Cotillo
It was available from Las Salinas itself back in mid-May. My daughter bought a couple of bags from the fifty or so they had on display.
We collect our own from the rock pools next to the lighthouse at El Cotillo. Collect the crusty top using a spoon, then layout on kitchen roll to dry. Took a bag back in our hand luggage for our daughter who is a chef, no issues.
I asked and had a reply that the problem is that the packaging machine is broken.
It should be fixed by the end of July.
Quote from: Charlie dont surf on June 26, 2014, 22:01:28 PM
Quote from: erik_tonny on June 26, 2014, 15:44:23 PM
No sea foam salt (flor de sal) on Fuerteventura.
Neighter on Lanzarote.
They do make it on la Palma.
Price Fuerte seasalt: 20 kg for €4,-
You can buy Flor de sal from las salinas in Lanzarote. On the road to El Golfo
Salt from las Salinas Fuerteventura is always available from the lighthouse museum in El Cotillo
They may
sell Flor de sal on the road to el Golfo.
But they do not harvest it in Lanzarote.....
(they sell Rolex watches at the market in Corralejo)
From Wikipedia
"Fleur de sel ("flower of salt" in French or flor de sal (in Portuguese, Spanish and Catalan) is a hand-harvested sea salt collected by workers who scrape only the top layer of salt before it sinks to the bottom of large salt pans."
Not knowing the process they use at the Museo de la Sal, I am unable to say whether it is Flor de Sal or not. Nor can I comment of whether salt from other areas of the Canaries is Flor de Sal or not.
What I do know is that the salt from the salt museum is excellent and, to my mind, superior to the Camargue Fleur de Sel that I was using till I used it all. Also at 70 cents a kilo far better value than Fleur de Sel at £20+/kilo so I can afford to throw it around a bit more!!
I just wish that the availability of Museum salt matched my holiday dates
And that it wasn't so bad for me!!!
Quote from: erik_tonny on June 27, 2014, 13:19:05 PM
they sell Rolex watches at the market in Corralejo)
Are you trying to tell me that they aren't real Rolexes???????
Quote from: hairybiker on June 27, 2014, 08:54:44 AM
I asked and had a reply that the problem is that the packaging machine is broken.
It should be fixed by the end of July.
6-8 weeks to repair a vital machine for one of the few industries here? Wow! That's fast!
Meanwhile, they have sandwich bags in Mercadona - perhaps we should go to the museum with our own bags.
Is the taste really that different? Is it worth trying out?
Quote from: Johnny on June 28, 2014, 01:22:51 AM
Is the taste really that different? Is it worth trying out?
At 35cents for 500g bag, what's to lose?? You might be pleasantly surprised
Flor de sal from las salinas in Lanzarote
All I know is what the man who actually harvests the salt at the museo told me.
Quote from: erik_tonny on June 28, 2014, 09:49:51 AM
Flor de sal from las salinas in Lanzarote
All I know is what the man who actually harvests the salt at the museo told me.
Que? You're not making any sense!
Will def give it a go when were over :D
This week I smoked my first batch of salt.
I used sal de espuma from fuerteventura and pican wood chips.
I smoked the salt, which was a little damp, op a splatter screen during about 10 hours.
Everybody really likes the taste of my sal ahumada and a lot have asked for some.
It's great on a salad or a steak or even an egg (bacon taste without the bacon).
I would appreciate it if anyone, returning to the UK, would pop into the Fuerteventura craft shop at the airport and let me know if they are stocking salt again now. I'm out in November and making plans for my shopping list.
The shop had moved to the new area at the north end of departures (probably a bit lonely there!!) but the airport map info shows it back in the old place at the south end of departures.
Thanks
Quote from: hairybiker on September 27, 2014, 18:47:28 PM
I would appreciate it if anyone, returning to the UK, would pop into the Fuerteventura craft shop at the airport and let me know if they are stocking salt again now. I'm out in November and making plans for my shopping list.
The shop had moved to the new area at the north end of departures (probably a bit lonely there!!) but the airport map info shows it back in the old place at the south end of departures.
Thanks
If only you'd posted this 24 hours ago, I might have been able to help! However, that shop has odd opening times, it's usually been shut when I've been there, and indeed it was at 1830 last night.
Bump - anyone leaving this Saturday and returning in the next 3 weeks, can you please check the craft shop for me.
Thank you
Dave G
I'm confused - what is the 'returning in the next 3 weeks' got to do with looking in the shop in Departures? (I'm going back to UK for a week on 16th, will try to remember to have a look.)
Ah sorry - just realised - I've read this from the perspective of someone living out here and you've written it for a visitor from the UK. 8)
Spot on Tamara. I was assuming that anyone heading from the UK to the island in the next week or so would be returning before I head to Fuerteventura on 5th Novemebr.
I also assumed that anyone visiting the island probably wouldn't be checking the forum while they were away, so would only be able to report back when the arrived back in the UK
I would be very grateful if you could have a look for me. Then, only if they run out or the packing machine breaks down again or the weather isn't right for making salt, will I need to make other arrangements to get salt.
Dave
Hi Dave
I had a good look but failed to spot any salt in Departures on Thursday 16th - sorry! The queues were too long for me to wait and ask the cashiers.
Good luck with finding another source - although of course the airport might have restocked minutes after I passed through ;D
Thanks, Tamara.
I shall email the Museo and, failing good news from them, I suppose I could visit the craft market in Campanario centre on two Sundays, first first to ask them if they can get it in 500g bags and the second to collect it
After an email exchange with the Museo de Sal (emuseos@gmail.com) and the help of Bing translator, I am expecting to pick up 2 x 1kg bags of salt at the craft shop in the departures area at Fuerteventura airport. That should last me a couple of years
A least, I hope it's salt. 2kg of another white powder wouild get me quite a long holiday at a "not destination"!!! I'll blame Bing if it goes wrong
How much are they charging you for a kilo?
Didn't ask and not especially bothered.
It was 35 cents for a 500g bag at the airport craft shop last year.
That is a very very decent price.
Do you know that the sea salt of Fuerteventura is made from sea foam (espuma)?
I was up in El Cotilo a few weeks back, lots of rock salt dried out on th the rocks there for free.
Erik - I have not been to the salt museum at El Carmen, but I understand that the salt is produced by the evaporation process.
This is what you may be thinking of.
Wikipedia - "Fleur de sel ("flower of salt" in French; French pronunciation: ​[flÅ"Ê dÉ™ sÉ›l]), flôr de sal (in Portuguese), or flor de sal (in Spanish and Catalan) is a hand-harvested sea salt collected by workers who scrape only the top layer of salt before it sinks to the bottom of large salt pans."
Fleur de sel is far more expensive at around £20 a kilo. I had some, used it all, and didn't think it was 20 times as good as the Fuerteventura salt.
Can - rock salt is mined salt (from ancient salt deposits, usually underground) not salt from the rocks.
Indeed, the salt is produced by the evaporation process.
But on Fuerteventura the pans are not just filled with plain sea water but with the sea spray or foam or froth.
According to the salt master in Calete, this will give a better quality.
Try smoking the salt....put some on a fillet, let rest a few hours .......
When you look at the piles of salt in the enclosures at Las Salinas, there are little bits of black rock and other stuff in them. Can anyone tell me how they purify the salt before they bag it?
Quote from: hairybiker on November 01, 2014, 18:49:59 PM
Didn't ask and not especially bothered.
It was 35 cents for a 500g bag at the airport craft shop last year.
The Kilo bags were 70 cents each. What a bargain. No other salt in the shop though.
And I see that the bags say "Sal marina de espuma" so it looks like it is made from sea foam
Cloudy day and a little sunburnt from yesterday, I decided on an expedition to the Museo del Sal. Bus 6 from Los Hoteles to PdR (â,¬2.70). 15 min wait then bus 3 from PdR to Las Salinas (â,¬1.65). Stop and the end of route is right outside. â,¬5 entry fee and â,¬0.70 for a kilo bag.
You could skip the museum and go straight into shop, buy salt and then get back on the same bus without doing the tour, but it is interesting.
So I'm stocked up for a while!
And in wandering around Corralejo, I found some in Padilla/Eurospar at the Las Palmeras centre. 300g bag, nicely packaged for â,¬3.
That's â,¬10 a kilo!!!!!
And at the airport, a little fancy glass jar with a decorative cloth top was â,¬9.50 for 160g which works out at â,¬59.38 a kilo
And it wasn't even from Fuerteventura, but from Lanzarote!!!
We still pay â,¬4,- for a 20 kg bag.
Quote from: erik_tonny on June 24, 2016, 09:05:18 AM
We still pay â,¬4,- for a 20 kg bag.
That would be all of my baggage allowance gone. And a lifetime's supply.