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We are always extolling the virtues of strawberries with the lightest touch of Blackthorn to really help bring out the sweetness and lengthen the taste sensation. In fact when tomatoes are not favoured by our guests, we suggest strawberries for our simple like-for-like taste tests to discuss the different effects that different salts can have. Yet, if there is a time that the strawberries can shine for themselves it is now - those fruit bearing swathes of Angus and Perthshire are just pummeling flavour into their berries at the moment! The strawberries, synonymous with Wimbledon, juicy childrens' smiles and summer picnics on windy, heathery hillsides and the raspberries are phenomenally intense, incredible with chocolate, or mint or in a refreshing drink - such a treat!
6 hours ago
Tower Power: whilst it is true that the Tower works in drizzle, on cold winter days and even during the night, it does, like the rest of us, have its preferences. On those rare high pressure, sea-breezy, hot sunny days the Thorn Tower is at its best and Salter Malky will be smiling. The wooden taps will be turned up to the full, as the seawater, or 'Mother Liquor' enters the Tower, and a few degrees warmer, the evaporation rates will be more efficient. The warmth of the sun raises the starting temperature of the liquid, but also heats the top-troughs, the great frame itself, those vast douglas fir beams, the larch cladding and the dark thorns. All will soak up the heat so much that on the most effective days each droplet will be ready to crystalise after just a single trickle around the Tower.
5 days ago
Wonderful though our method is, ultimately the fundamental function of Blackthorn Salt is its transformative taste characteristics. We are obsessed with ensuring that each crystal captures everything that we are looking for and have looked into it to the nth degree with labs, nutritionists, and chefs to understand what exactly is going on. Every batch will spend an unusual 5 days in a gently warm Pan to ensure that the mineral inclusion is as it should be. This is why, should you try a like-for-like 'taste test' with Blackthorn and A. N. Other, it is certain that you will detect different taste sensations. From then on, it's up to preference and priorities but that difference is clear and is key to us. In Blackthorn, the unique mineral array and depth is conscious and deliberate: each works to highlight the taste experiences that it compliments. Each also ensures that there are more reactions rather than a simple 'sodium chloride effect'. Blackthorn will enhance not just 1 or 2 of the basic tastes, but all 5 - the sweet, the sour, saltiness, bitterness and the savoury umami, which we believe even at a basic human instinct level, serves to make mouthfuls more appealing and satisfying. With the addition of Blackthorn, these taste sensations will last longer too and essentially the flavour will taste even more of itself, be more complete. On steak for example, it is exquisite, transforming the simple ingredient into the best version of itself, revealing the core of its flavour and each complexity it holds thereafter. It is really hard to explain, so forgive me for the amateur description, but please do try a taste comparison, it is fascinating, even with just plain tomatoes it is pretty clear.
Steak: @highland_wagyu
Knife: @opinelofficiel
12 days ago