About Blackthorn Salt

Here at Blackthorn Salt, we need not make a show of provenance or terroir, we just look up and know. Our location and sense of place is at the core of who we are: the West Coast of Scotland. It is our backdrop, our history and our inspiration. Origins of the Graduation Tower In the 6th Century, the first graduation towers used straw, but this rotted and fouled the brine. The technology matured over the following centuries and blackthorn bushels became prized for its hardiness and longevity. Today, there are several enormous and working examples of such towers in Germany and Poland. These no longer produce salt per se, but are run as spas, inviting tourists and locals with respiratory difficulties to come and breathe the briney air. All of these pans used small coal to heat and evaporate their sea water, making a rough and ready salt for the pre-refrigeration age. Blackthorn is proud to have brought salt home to the West Coast of Scotland where it was once such a thriving local industry, essential to the daily lives of local people. Our methods and means may be very different from our forebearers’, but we would like to think they would be proud and amazed by everything that is Blackthorn Salt today.Read their story