Noto's agehama salt: the only place in Japan, and 500 years of making salt by hand

Almost nobody, I think, has seen a salt field in Japan. The salt fields that once stood on coastlines all over the country disappeared as salt making modernized.

All but one place.

The Nie coast (仁江海岸) in Suzu, Ishikawa Prefecture, near the tip of the Noto Peninsula. Here, the only salt field in Japan still working by "agehama-style salt making" (揚げ浜式製塩) remains.

500 years of carrying up seawater

Agehama-style salt making is said to have begun around 500 years ago, at the end of the Muromachi period. The Kaga domain protected salt making through its shiotegome system (塩手米制度), and on the coast of Okunoto salt making has run on unbroken.

The method is startlingly plain.

1. Seawater is carried up from the sea in buckets and scattered evenly over a salt field laid with sand
2. The sun and wind drive off the water, and the salt clings to the sand
3. That sand is gathered and washed with seawater to draw off a strong brine, kansui (鹹水)
4. The kansui is boiled in a flat pan for about 6 hours, then finished over about 18 hours more

No pumps, no electricity. Read the weather, turn the sand, keep the fire. The craftsmen who carry this run of work are called hamaji (浜士). It is an Important Intangible Folk Cultural Property of the state, and counted, as "Noto's Satoyama and Satoumi," among the Globally Important Agricultural Heritage Systems: a living cultural property.

Why it tastes round

Taste agehama salt and the first surprise is that it is not harshly salty.

More precisely, there is sweetness and savor on the far side of the salt. The reason is that it is finished without removing the minerals in seawater, the magnesium, potassium and calcium. If refined salt, from which only sodium chloride has been drawn out, is a single note, agehama salt is a chord.

So your onigiri changes. Your tomatoes change. Use it as the dipping salt for tempura and the sweetness of the ingredient rises straight up. The reason so many ryotei kitchens and leading chefs keep it on hand is exactly this chord that draws the ingredient out.

A day on the beach, inside one bag of salt

Okunoto Endenmura's agehama salt cannot be mass-produced. It is at the mercy of the weather, and it takes more than a full day for one pan of salt to come out.

Inside a small bag sit the morning the hamaji walked down to the sea, the afternoon he turned the sand, and the night he kept the fire under the pan, exactly as they were. The salt fields were badly damaged in the 2024 Noto Peninsula earthquake, but the hamaji have restarted salt making. Choosing this salt is also a way of supporting the "next year" of a culture 500 years long.

Start with a salted rice ball

When you get hold of agehama salt, make shio-musubi your first meal with it. Freshly cooked rice, and this salt, and nothing else.

That is the first step of a journey to Noto.

Frequently asked questions

What is agehama-style salt making?

Seawater is carried up in buckets and scattered over a sand salt field, the sun and wind concentrate it into kansui brine, and that brine is boiled down in a flat pan. It is among the oldest salt-making methods in Japan. It has been handed down on the Nie coast in Suzu, Ishikawa Prefecture, from around 500 years ago, and is designated an Important Intangible Folk Cultural Property by the state.

How is agehama salt different from ordinary salt?

Because it is made keeping the minerals of the seawater as they are, it is rich in magnesium and potassium, and it has a rounded savor with no hard edge to the saltiness. The complexity of the taste is far removed from refined salt, which is 99% or more sodium chloride.

Where can I buy agehama salt?

You can buy it at Okunoto Endenmura in Suzu, Ishikawa Prefecture (the roadside station Suzu Endenmura), and it is also sold online, on Amazon and elsewhere. Production is small, so when you find it is when to buy it.