Description
We test if salt shape changes taste, tour Cornish Sea Salt in Cadwyth Cove, uncover nutrient-dense baby leaves, and crack why beer comes in so many colours.
In Cornwall’s Cadwyth Cove, local fishermen sample rock, table and flake salts, with many preferring the delicate flakes. At the Cornish sea salt company, managing director Philip Townswell shows how Grade A seawater is pumped at 60,000 litres per hour, filtered, UV-treated, then concentrated using electromagnetism to pull charged sodium and chloride into a brine. In a warm crystal room at about 50 C, wafer-like flakes form and drop like snowflakes before drying and packing, explaining the premium price and distinct texture.
Next, in Essex at Agri-El Fresh Farms, agronomist Nick Walker compares classics like iceberg, Lola Rosso and Apollo with the farm’s “secret” baby leaves. Grown for around 35 days, baby spinach, ruby chard, rocket and lamb’s lettuce deliver more vitamin A and folate, plus a source of vitamin C. A high-speed harvester gathers about six tonnes of lamb’s lettuce a day. At Florette in Staffordshire, technical manager Bryony Hale checks leaves in below 8 C conditions, washes in a light chlorine solution with a water rinse, then gently dries delicate baby leaves. Within roughly two hours, mixed packs like baby chard, baby kale and baby spinach are supermarket-ready.
For beer, brewmaster Fergus Fitzgerald at Addams Brewery in East Suffolk guides us from mash tun to sweet wort and hop additions, noting hops add flavour and bitterness, not colour. Colour comes from malted barley. In Norfolk at Simpson’s Malt, Andrew Holding demonstrates steeping and germination, then roasting in a drum to precise levels, creating a palette of malts from pale to very dark that set the shade of your pint.
At Reading University’s Sensory Science Centre, flavour scientist Professor Lisa shows why crystal size matters: larger flake surfaces contact more taste receptors, often tasting saltier. A quick tasting reveals how our brains adapt to high salt levels, and a simple mash test proves that the same measured salt sprinkled on top can taste almost twice as salty as when mixed evenly. Measure first, then season the surface to keep flavour high while using less salt.
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