FAQs
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We begin with clean, mineral-rich Pacific Ocean water, sourced from the unspoiled coastline of Northern California.
The water is carefully filtered and evaporated in small batches, allowing the salt to crystallize naturally.
Once the salt forms, it is hand-harvested, preserving its delicate structure and natural flavor.
After drying, the salt is carefully sorted into Fine Grain for everyday cooking, Coarse Grain for texture and crunch, and Smoked Coarse Grain for a bold, smoky finish.
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Our salt is naturally rich in over 50 trace minerals, including magnesium, calcium, and potassium, which contribute to both taste and nutrition.
The clean, unprocessed nature of our salt allows for a pure, crisp flavor that enhances any dish.
Free from artificial additives, it’s a natural way to elevate your cooking with the true taste of the Pacific.
We are all made of salt.
Well, almost: every cell in our human body contains salt. In fact, an adult body contains about 250 grams of salt. Our human bodies require salt for proper conduct of nerve impulses, to move muscles, and to maintain correct levels of water in the body.
Salt means good cooking.
Salt doesn’t just make things salty. It suppresses bitterness, enhances sweetness, and rounds out other flavors, making it an essential tool in the culinary world. This is why a pinch of salt can even improve sweet dishes like cookies and cakes.
Salt is a mineral.
Highway 1 Foods gets its salt exclusively from Pacific Ocean water. Here's how salt is made: the sea takes in dissolved matter from two sources: rivers that enter it and volcanic activity on the seafloor. The rivers mainly provide ions from the weathering of rocks — unpaired atoms with a lack or excess of electrons. The major ions are silicates, carbonates, and alkali metals sodium, calcium, and potassium. So when you consume salt, you're consuming a mineral that Mother Nature put together. We just gathered it for you to take home. Sprinkle away!
Don't worry about germs in salt.
Many germs cannot live in salt, so salt has been used to preserve food throughout the ages, probably as long ago as 4000 BC. When used as a food preservative, salt helps large amounts of food to be stored, sent a long way, and eaten throughout the year. Think pickles in salty brine, beef jerky, and cured fish. Many of these foods depend on salt to preserve their shelf life for months.
Salt gathering has been a foundation for human civilization
Salt stimulated human populations to grow by preserving foods way before refrigerators. This resulted in cities developing, and, voila, the enabling of human civilization. So, yes, with our Fine Grain, Coarse Grain and Smoked Pacific Sea Salts, Highway 1 Foods is proud to carry on the tradition of gathering salt as a foundation of civilization.