The ‘Flor de sal de Tavira’ has now become a product with a protected origin having made the list of protected products from Brussels.

According to the now official status, the production of sal and ‘flor de sal’ is limited to three parishes in Tavira which now have the Protected Designation of Origin – PDO – status as a result of a request submitted to the European Commission back in 2011.

What makes the salt and ‘flor de sal de Tabira’ special is that it is hand-harvested sea salt from the salt pans of the Ria Fomosa national park and the activity is limited to three parishes of the Tavira county.

The request for the salt of the region to be recognized said that it is ‘obtained by manual harvesting from the natural process of evaporation of water from the Atlantic Ocean which circulates in a system of ponds where the final crystallization occurs’.

According to the document this salt is unrefined, nor is it washed after harvest and has no additives – such as iodine. The production is limited to the salt marches in the three Tavira parishes of Santa Lucia, Santiago and Santa Maria.

Tavira salt has different levels of minerals than other salts, and this makes it more fragile, a characteristic which allows it to dissolve into very small and lightweight crystal that is much in demand from both chefs and home cooks because the flavor of the salt can change the entire flavor of a dish to give it a very unique and refined taste.