Salinas do Samouco

Salt is one of the simplest substances - sodium chloride - yet one of the most decisive in human history. It was currency, cause of wars, trade route, religious ritual.

Between the Atlantic coast, the temperate climate and the wetlands, salt production in Portugal carries us from Antiquity to the Age of Discovery, when it found its great expansion. Salt was used to preserve the world.

With industrialisation, production declined. But today it is returning. With a different value - traditional and sustainable.

In the Tagus estuary, the Salinas do Samouco were once the country's largest producers. Today, Marinha do Canto endures. Here salt still exists - coarse, drawn, or as Flower of Salt.

It all begins in March. The tanks are cleaned. The boards that contain them are repaired. Then the waters are prepared.

In June, the first salt harvest is drawn out with the rake, as tradition dictates.

The salt is skimmed, forming small mounds. And it is left to dry, in its own time, before being taken to the salt ridge to finish drying.

In the salt house, the bagging takes place. Until mid-September.

At Marinha do Canto, in the Salinas do Samouco, knowledge endures. It is the legacy of the history and culture of the people of Alcochete, preserved by The Environmental Protection and Management of the Salinas do Samouco Foundation.