Low tide at Oceanside and Jacobsen Sea Salt

 So today we got up by 7am and were on the road at 7:34.  We headed directly to Oceanside because low tide was at 9 am.  We arrived to a wonderfully gravelled beach with not too many people around.  It was definitely an agate day. This beach is awesome and it was a beautiful morning, the sun was shining and the wind was low.

 

After spending about 3 hours scouring the beaches we headed up the road to Jacobson Sea Salt Factory.  I first discovered Jacobsen Salt on the Food Network and since we were going to be in the area we searched it out.  They make excellent salt.  They searched up and down the west coast from the tip of Washington State all the way to Southern Oregon and decided that Neatarts Bay was the perfect location.  The water in this bay replenishes it self almost every day with the tides so it makes for very fresh water. There are also a number of oyster farms in the water which also help with the filtering of the water.  It is not a very big place but they are currently expanding to meet the demands of the business.  

The process is actually very simple, they pump water through a sand a gravel filter into big settling ponds and then they cook the excess water, calcium and magnesium out leaving the salt crystals. They then take the crystals and dry them further and then either package them straight or mix them with various spices and herbs.  They make everything from garlic, black garlic, chilies, rosemary, lemon zest and basil to name just a few of their varieties.  I find this salt excellent to cook with. They had different samples and because they cook out the minerals the salt is very fresh tasting, no bitter undertones.  We picked up some of their flaked salt that you can add to cooked food just before you serve it.  I also picked up one of their new salts, black garlic and ginger, can’t wait to try it.

This is the gift shop

This is the current building that they currently boil the salt in, they are building a larger one and it will be completely inside.  The white stuff at the exit is the excess calcium and magnesium. 

This is a video that the lady from the gift shop took for us.

This is a video from YouTube that gives you a more in depth view of how they make the salt.

So after we bought our salt, it was still before lunch so we decided to drive to Lincoln City and visit the outlet malls.  Len wanted a couple of sweatshirts without hoods. He found two nice ones at Old Navy and we had an excellent lunch at a little Asian restaurant, ended up bringing back half of it to have later.

Tomorrow we are going to head back to Oceanside and then maybe head north towards Rockaway Beach. There are a couple of thrift stores up there that we like, always fun to check them out.  We are still looking for a Pyrex measuring cup. Len needs one to melt his butter in for popcorn and a dry measuring cup doesn’t quite cut it for measuring liquids.