How to make fleur de sel (salt flakes)
French "fleur de sel" is a salt with a special texture, formed by the action of the wind on salt marshs. The wind dries the surface of the water which has a high salt concentration (this will later become sea salt) producing thin flaky crystals.
1 hour 7 min.
Easy
15 g
1 IngredientLast modified on: May 4th 2011
For 15 g, you will need:
- 1
500 ml sea water - Total weight: 500 grams
Change measures:
Times for this recipe
Preparation: 7 min.
Cooking: 1 hour
All in all: 1 hour 7 min.
If you start now, at , you will finish around : ?.Change start time
To finish around 7pm, you'll need to have started before: .Change end time
Step by step recipe
Stage 1 - 2 min.
Pour 500 ml sea water into a pan on the lowest heat possible.
Stage 2 - 1 hour
As the water evaporates, crystals of salt will start to appear on the surface...
Stage 3
...until the water has entirely disappeared.
Stage 4 - 5 min.
Scrape the bottom of the pan and you will have your "fleur de sel" salt flakes.
Remarks
It's worth noting that all types of salt have the same basic taste (unless of course there is something added). What "fleur se sel" offers is a different texture, rather than taste, and it is for scattering over the top of dishes rather than mixing in, as this adds nothing different from normal salt.
Keeping: Several months in an airtight jar.
Source: Home made, based on a tip by Hervé This.
Nutritional information
| Proteins (gr) | Carbohydrates (gr) | Fats (gr) | Energy value (in k-calories) | Energy value (in k-joules) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Whole recipe | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 RDI: 0 % |
| Per 100 g | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 RDI: 0 % |
This recipe uses (among others)
Sea water
Like these other recipes: Ocean bread, ... See them all 1
Other recipes you may also like
How to roll out pastry for a tart
Rolling out pastry from a block and lining a tart mould or tin is not as straighforward as all that. To help you to succeed every time, here is a very simple tip. It will to change your opinion of tarts...October 13th 2010306 K4.6 25 min.
How to glaze a tart
Professional pastrycooks usually say that "a beautiful cake is already half sold", it is one of the reasons why they do not put a tart on sale without glazing it ("abricoter" in Fench), i.e. coating it with a thick apricot syrup. This glaze gives a glossy finish to the tart (see the photographs...February 15th 2016462 K4.4 7 min.
How to prepare egg glaze
Bakers and pastry chefs use a glaze ("dorure" in French - the same word as for gilding) made with whole full eggs, beaten in a blender. This is used with a brush on pastry that would not naturally brown during cooking (brioche, puff pastry, ...).October 17th 2018322 K4.3 2 min.
How to extract passion fruit juice
Passion fruit are rather strange fruit as they do not really have much flesh, but rather seeds surrounded by a fine layer of pulp. Here is a way to extract the juice.March 23th 2011531 K 32.3 20 min.
How to use a vanilla pod effectively
Vanilla pods are used in many recipes, but they need to treated in a particular way to be effective, detailed here.February 21th 2011396 K4.3 35 min.
News list of cooking-ez.com
Sign up to receive the latest recipes (next batch due to be sent on 2025-08-24)
Note: We'll never share your e-mail address with anyone else.
Follow this recipe (as 5 people already do)
If you are interested in this recipe, you can "follow" it, by entering your email address here. You will then receive a notification immediately each time the recipe is modified or a new comment is added. Please note that you will need to confirm this following.
Note: We'll never share your e-mail address with anyone else.
Alternatively: you can subscribe to the mailing list of cooling-ez.com , you will receive a e-mail for each new recipe published on the site.
The 4 comments already posted on this recipe
Fleur de Sel is not made, it is the first hand harvested of the delicate and tasty flakes on top of the salt fields. What you are making is salt FLAKES. I actually want to make salt flakes so I will use your instructions.
Fleur de Sel is sold by the name of the salt fields or regions such as the Fleur de Sel (flower of the salt- French) de Guerande. It is one of the more coveted Fleur de sel salts in France. Because it is hand harvested, it costs considerably more than gross salt and is considering a 'finishing salt'. That is the salt sprinkled on the food on your plate just before it is eaten.