Umi no Sei Arashio Sea Salt (海の精 あらしお)

The story behind it

Tokyo has a salt-producing region of its own: Izu Oshima, a volcanic island washed by the Kuroshio current.

In 1971, the modernization of salt production wiped out salt fields across Japan, and salt made directly from seawater was close to disappearing. Researchers and consumers gathered on Izu Oshima to keep the technique alive and carried on making salt. That effort became Umi no Sei, and it stands more or less at the origin of Japan's natural-salt revival movement.

Kuroshio seawater is concentrated by sun and wind in a vertical-frame salt field, then simmered slowly in a flat pan until it crystallizes. The salt keeps a measured amount of its bittern minerals, so behind the saltiness there is sweetness and body. The red Arashio label has been a fixture in the natural-food world for half a century.