Raking the bay: how the salt is made

There’s no shortcut to flake salt. We pull clean bay water into shallow pans and let the sun and wind do the work, which on the Cape means waiting on the weather like everyone else here. As the water goes, thin pyramids of salt form on the surface, and we rake them off by hand the moment they’re ready: too early and they’re slush, too late and they sink. What’s left is bright, crunchy, and faintly of the bay. It finishes everything we make, from the caramel to a Sunday roast.