Making Salt on a Black Beach

Making salt the traditional way is labor-intensive work. Water is collected from the ocean in heavy canvas bags slung from a pole resting on the worker’s shoulders, then carried uphill from the water’s edge and splashed on a perfectly smooth base of sand. As the hot sun evaporates the water, the salt crystals stay on the surface. After three days the salt is collected, run through a filtering and drying process and is ready for sale.

At this beautiful black sand beach we were able to watch the collection process.

I read that a salt farmer can collect about 70-100 kg of salt in a week and sell it for $10. Really hard way to make a living.