A slice of unseasoned, half-cooked foie gras, sprinkled with a few coarse salts, the soft foie gras sets off the hard and crispy salt, and the saltiness is slowly released after biting.

After tasting such a dish, you will find that salt can also be the protagonist of a dish, so stealing the limelight. The "Flower of Salt" produced in the Guélande wetlands of Brittany, France, is the most special of all edible salts, and is the legendary table salt intertwined with unique geographical environment and traditional skills, which is the Rolls-Royce of salt.

The Geirand wetland is a thousand-year-old sea salt field in the far north of Europe, and salt is only dried in summer. A labyrinthine winding salt pond, combined with the wind and the sun, crystallizes on the surface of the brine at a special temperature and concentration of seawater to form a floating flower of Guélande salt.

It is a pure white, clean, and very delicate natural sea salt, with a finer, whiter, almost translucent color, with a hint of seawater, and a violet-like aroma when added to hot food.

In the Middle Ages, it was a seaport with frequent trade, but it lost its function as a seaport due to the gradual silting up of the sea, and more than 1,000 years ago, the city of Guélande was built on a cliff of more than 50 meters, and by the 17th century, when the harbor was completely silted up, the cliff had become a gentle low slope.

In 1489, Anne, Duchess of Brittany, who had just ascended the throne, came to Guélande to escape the forced marriage of King Charles VIII of France. Although she later married Charles VIII, in order to thank the city of Guélande for her protection, she was granted the preferential treatment of exemption from salt tax and salt works, and the salt industry was greatly developed after getting rid of the heavy taxes.

Guélande is well connected by the North Atlantic Current, and the strong winds are ideal for the evaporation of water during salt production. The flat terrain of Guélande makes it easy for seawater to be brought into the salt pans near the city for drying.

In the 60s of the 20th century, the French who preferred snow-white salt preferred Mediterranean salt and rock salt, and with the promotion of Guélande salt by France's top chefs, it is now regarded as the best of salt.

Geirand has a typical temperate maritime climate with abundant rainfall in autumn and winter, so the salt-producing season is mainly concentrated in the rain-rich summer.

In the hot summer afternoons, the water in the salt ponds can reach temperatures of up to 37°C, the water evaporates quickly, and in moderate humidity and breeze conditions, white translucent salt flower crystals accumulate on the surface of the salt pans.

In the past, due to the scarcity of production, 500 grams of salt flowers could only crystallize every 50 square meters, and they were generally kept for their own use or sold to nearby residents, and were rarely purchased by salt merchants.

Since salt flowers float on the surface of the water and are not easy to collect, this delicate work used to be done by young girls, and the money earned after selling them was saved for the purchase of dowries, so the "salt flowers" are also figuratively called "salt of the bride".

The "Flower of Salt" is actually a rapidly accumulating sodium chloride, a delicate flaky crystal that condenses into small salt grains in the shape of a hollow inverted pyramid, which does not touch the bottom of the salt pan, so that it does not contain the sedimentary particles of light gray sea salt, giving it a beautiful snow-white color.

The most admired thing about the "Flower of Salt" is that it has a very rich flavor layer, and the sea salt produced in other regions is far from being matched, and the flower of salt is salty but not bitter, and the flavor unfolds slowly. Especially in dishes with delicate flavors, the flavor of the ingredients can be brought out more clearly, cleanly, and softly balanced.

This is due to the fact that the soda interface is where aroma molecules and other lipids are concentrated, so the "flower of salt" contains traces of algae and other substances, which is described by gourmets as a "charming violet scent".

The production of "Salt Flowers" is very labor-intensive, the production is very small, and it is expensive, so it is generally not used as a cooking salt. In some high-end Western restaurants, the waiter serves a small basket of bread, accompanied by a small plate of extra virgin olive oil and a little salt flower, which can be said to be the best way to taste its original taste.

The "flower of salt" is usually sprinkled directly on the surface of the dish, such as foie gras, asparagus, steak, sea fish, etc. Even the standard ingredient of foie gras in many restaurants, the foie gras is fried until it is slightly browned on the surface, but the inside is soft, sprinkled with salt flowers, and the sound of fine crumbling and light graininess when you bite into it, which is a must-try.

Guélande's "Flower of Salt" was a delicacy, and William had the privilege of eating it at major ceremonies and banquets as a child, and even his father, Duke Robert himself, did not have the luxury of using it every day.

It was not until 1039 that William captured the Countdom of Nantes in the Duchy of Brittany, that this top-notch condiment really fell into William's hands and became his forbidden body.

Since then, William has eaten dishes seasoned with Guéronde's "Flower of Salt" at almost every meal, and under the cooking of William's trained chefs, each dish has an extreme taste and deliciousness, which is not comparable to the dark cuisine of the Middle Ages, if I have to describe it, it is the difference between heaven and hell.

Soon, Count Hubert, Count Rodrigo, Count Adolf, Count Richard, and Steward Osborne, who were close to William, also indulged in the delicious dishes seasoned with Guerlande's "Flower of Salt".

Also enjoying the beauty of Guélande's "Flower of Salt" were William's knights and nobles, who often enjoyed food with the nobles and his knights, which in William's view could strengthen the relationship with them and unite the nobles of Normandy.

Of course, even though the number of "Salt Flowers" in Guélande was very limited, William did not hide his secrets and generously gave the "Salt Flowers" to his noble generals.

As a result, the trend of eating the "Flower of Salt" was brought up by William, and countless noble knights were proud to eat the "Flower of Salt", and even the "Flower of Salt" was regarded by the priests as a gift from God, with powerful magic and spiritual power, and was a must-have for exorcism and prayer.

Soon, the fame of the "Flower of Salt" spread throughout Europe, whether it was France, England, Spain, or the Holy Roman Empire, all the nobles flocked to the "Flower of Salt", and with it, there was a huge demand for the "Flower of Salt".

To this end, William even recruited and hired 20,000 war refugees to open a large area of salt works in the Guélande area, which was specially used to produce "salt flowers".

As a result, William made a lot of money from the production and sale of the "Flower of Salt", earning tens of thousands of pounds of silver every year, and growing with increasing production and endless demand.