Saline solution Maine company’s sea salt finding national market

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Using the briny seawater that surges up the Bay of Fundy in the greatest tidal range in the world, a small Maine company is breaking into the national food market by harvesting an unusual product: salt.

Quoddy Mist Sea Salt shares space in a rambling former sardine factory on Lubec Narrows with scallopers, sea cucumber exporters, a lobster company and a sea urchin research firm.

But rather than harvesting food from the water, Quoddy Mist is harvesting the salt-rich water itself. Pulling from the 50-foot-high tides, Quoddy Mist can produce up to 4,000 pounds of salt each month.

“We have a high current, enormous tides and cold water all the time, even in the height of summer,” Quoddy Mist president Clayton Lank said recently. “The combination creates a high-demand, gourmet product.”

The processing of common table salt typically removes the minerals, including iron, magnesium, calcium, potassium, manganese, zinc and iodine. With consumer trends clearly migrating toward healthful, all natural foods, the popularity of sea salt – once used to pack the fish processed at Lubec – has grown significantly in the United States over the past 10 years.

There are fine chefs in Maine who won’t use anything but Maine sea salt. From a culinary school in New Hampshire to Washington County Community College just up the road, Quoddy Mist is quickly becoming a kitchen staple.

“It is an amazing Maine product,” Brian Hill, head chef at Francine’s Bistro in Camden, said. “We use it to finish a lot of dishes, and it definitely is the equivalent of the fine French salts. It is beautiful.”

The process from briny water to gourmet salt is a simple one, Lank said.

“We take in seawater, filter it, heat it, evaporate it, grind it, and then package it,” he said.

Every 24 hours, seawater is sucked from the Lubec Narrows on the incoming, or flood, tide.

The filtered seawater is heated and evaporated in 3,000-gallon titanium vats until a thick brine is created. Lank would not reveal what percentage of the water is salt – that is a trade secret, he said. Various brine percentages create different types of crystals, each with its own market, and Lank is in the process of patenting his system.

The hot brine is pumped into deep-sided tables, and the evaporation process continues.

“You can see the crystals starting to form immediately,” said Melanie Moore, the company’s research and development director.

The temperature is kept at 65 to 70 degrees F and the humidity is kept as low as possible while the salt crystallizes.

Rakes are drawn through the brine to pull the crystals to a platform on the end. “We can rake up to 100 pounds of salt in four hours,” Moore said.

A byproduct of the process, which is strikingly similar to that used by maple syrup producers, is distilled water. Lank is now discarding it back into the bay but is looking for a market for the pure water.

It takes six days from start to finish to extract the salt from the seawater, and 48 gallons of natural seawater make 1 gallon of brine, which produces 3.5 pounds of salt crystals.

The end product can look like giant icicles, tiny snowflakes or little squares – all crystals that are finding a huge market in the organic and restaurant fields.

Mixed with sea vegetables (seaweed) or smoked at a local smokehouse, the salt itself becomes a gourmet product. The salt and seaweed are directly harvested in Maine, making the Quoddy Mist products completely locally generated.

Lank took over the business from a frustrated Massachusetts developer in 2005, using funding from the Lubec Revolving Loan Fund and financing through Sunrise County Economic Development Council.

“[The developer] just didn’t have the patience needed,” Lank said. “He spent just six months here and went back to Massachusetts. He just didn’t wait long enough.”

But using his background as a veteran fisherman and fish farm owner, and with additional schooling in computer processing, Lank put together a thriving business.

“We went from making 90 pounds of salt a week to 230 pounds in less than six months,” Lank said. Working with the University of Maine, Lank developed a filtering process that takes out impurities but leaves valuable trace minerals in place. The company is making 12 different blends, some that include wasabi and seven dried sea vegetables.

“The best sea salt in the world is made in France,” Lank said. “Our goal was to be able to compete with the French salt, and I believe we have accomplished that goal.”

Lank started by selling his product in high-end gift shops along the Washington and Hancock county coasts.

The quality of the sea salt quickly caught the eye of national companies, and Lank now is working with Maine Coast Sea Vegetables, Salt Traders of Colorado and the New England Division of Whole Foods grocery stores.

“Going national is a huge jump for us,” Lank admitted.

As his markets develop, Lank’s payroll is increasing. Now using only three employees – mostly in the packaging end of the business – Quoddy Mist should support eight by next spring.

“Next year we will add two more evaporators,” Lank said, which will increase his monthly output to 8,000 pounds of gourmet salt. “Using the same energy, we’ll be able to double our production.”

As exciting as breaking into the national markets is, Lank said he feels it is important to take small steps in building his company. “I want the growth under my control, not out of control,” he said.