French coarse sea salt from Guerande Le Guerandais-gros sel de Guerande - 1000 gr

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Around 848, under the reign of Nominoe, 1st King of Brittany, the city became the head of a temporary bishopric. Former, the town of Guérande has experienced a dwelling since prehistoric times, and the one that today is called the Guérande peninsula alone has nearly half of megalithic monuments remaining in the department. But we must wait until antiquity for the city to exist as such, including the presence of several farms. The activity of salt marshes, but also viticultural, began during the Middle Ages, in the fourteenth century, and made the city famous over the centuries.

the Namnetes, further South, whose frontier was the Loire river. As a seaboard people, their fortunes increased as they sided with Rome. Guérande salt also contains extreme halophile (salt-loving) micro-organisms (link to glossary), which contribute to its colour and aroma. The dunaliela salina is a micro algae which gives the characteristic pink colour to the mother waters, feeds artemias, which themselves give the rose colour to salmon and flamingos. Fine salt also comes from gray salt, it is not a product that occurs naturally in salt marshes, it is coarse ground salt.Different salts dissolve at different speeds and sometimes take time to disperse. Always go easy on the salt to start with – it’s better to add more later than to add too much. Temperature makes a difference as well: a dish that has been salted to taste whilst cold might be too salty after heating. Be especially careful with sauces and stews that reduce down during cooking; only add a very small amount of salt to begin with. The pond of Mès, a smaller area, to Mesquer. It is the pond salicole most well known in northern Europe. Every year in May, Guérande offers its famous medieval festival. Each year, the themes chosen reflect the history of the city, from the late Middle Ages to the present day, offering costumed re-enactments as well as various festive animations. The market of Guérande is held every Wednesday and Saturday morning inside the ramparts. A fish market is also organized every day except Mondays and Thursdays. During the Middle Ages, the town had a very rich history, with many important events. It was also the capital of the Pays Guérandais, an ancient region of the Duchy of Brittany.

The salterns of Guérande are a swamp of salt water about 1 700 hectares in size. The current saltmarshes began before the 9th century and lasted for several centuries. Around the year 1500, the marshes reached 80% of the current surface. The latest were built around 1800. In the middle of the 19th century, a gradual decline started for different reasons: competition from a salt mine, lower consumption of salt as a product of conservation and improvement of transport by land. According to the classification established by the INSEE in 1999, Guérande is now classified as an urban district, 1 out of 9 forming the urban area of Saint-Nazaire. Populations légales 2020". The National Institute of Statistics and Economic Studies. 29 December 2022. The seawater carries on its journey until it has evaporated enough and only the natural grey salt crystals are left behind. These crystals are raked up by hand. The people here in Le Guerandais region have made their living this way, in harmony with their environment, continually for many centuries. The term is also found in “fleur de l’âge” (in the prime of life), defined by the Larousse dictionary as: “the freshness and spontaneity of one’s beginnings”. A real flower is transient and fragile, which gives its beauty.Since 2004, the medieval town of Guérande has been a member of a national network of 120 towns, the Villes et Pays d'Art et d'Histoire (Towns and Regions of Art and History). The fortified wall of Guérande is one of the best preserved and complete in France. Its circumference stretches 1434 meters.

The salt of Guérande used to be traded throughout Brittany, tax free until Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte decided to tax it resulting in the beginning of a decline of salt activity. At the end of the Breton War of Succession, peace was finally concluded before the high altar of Saint Aubin, ( Albinus of Angers) on Holy Saturday in 1365. In this the first Treaty of Guérande, Joanna of Penthièvre abdicated her disputed claims to the Dukedom in favour of John V of the House of Montfort. A modified form of Salic law was introduced in Brittany as a result. Des villages de Cassini aux communes d'aujourd'hui: Commune data sheet Guérande, EHESS (in French). About half of the remaining megalithic monuments of the Département Loire-Atlantique, is located on the Peninsula, which makes it an important area for Prehistory. It is now known that these structures date from around 5200–2200 BC. If it does reach the bottom, it continues to crystallise, in a similar way to a coarse salt, in hard cubes, but in an organised way and not in clumps. It is a coarse salt crystallised around a flower of salt embryo. This product, however, does not correspond to the definition of flower of salt!The Guérande Peninsula is surrounded by water. It stretches out from the Atlantic Ocean (west) to the Brière Regional Nature Reserve (east), and from the river Vilaine (north) to the Loire estuary (south). Health authorities in many countries recommend a reduction in salt consumption, however, it must be noted that they are talking about refined salt. This is not the same as sea salt. Guérande salt is a concentration of sea water, and contains less sodium chloride.

For cooking, Guérande salt is the most appreciated by cooks and great chefs in France and abroad. It can be used with a wide variety of dishes and preparations. Rich in prehistoric heritage, the city possesses several megalithic monuments classified or inscribed in the Historic Monuments like the dolmen of Sandun, or menhirs of Bissin, the Chapel and Keroland.

They are a part of the salterns of the Atlantic Ocean, more than three-quarters of them, found in the Gironde and the peninsula of Quiberon. La bouderie en amour est comme le sel ; il n’en faut pas trop (Proverbe Sanskrit) (Sulking in love is like salt; you don’t need too much of it: Sanskrit proverb). Tanneguy Lehideux, Combats d'un Chouan: Terrien coeur de lion, colonel de Chouans, Chevalier de Saint-Louis or La Chouannerie in Upper Brittany and Anjou, La Crèche, Geste éditions, 2009, 443 p. (ISBN 978-2-84561-509-0, notice BnF no FRBNF41454424). On the Sunday closest to the 22nd of July, the Mtes festival is a folklore event featuring fireworks, concerts, a craft market or many activities. The principle behind being organic is not to alter the product" Christophe Annaheim, President of the French Association of Atlantic Sea Salt Producers