For Nancy Bruns, salt is life.
It’s in her veins. It’s in her history. It’s in her land.
The J.Q. Dickinson Salt-Works co-founder has made it her livelihood — and her legacy.
Located in Malden, West Virginia, J.Q. Dickinson Salt-Works harvests all-natural salt by hand from a 400-million-year-old ancient ocean trapped below the Appalachian Mountains.
The result is an award-winning, all natural salt that can be found in the kitchens of top chefs around the world — and it started right here in West Virginia.
A Salty History
Bruns and her brother Lewis Payne are seventh-generation salt makers who came together in 2013 to breathe new life into the 200-year-old family tradition.
“With very few salt producers in the U.S., and our deep family history, I revived the salt industry in the Kanawha Valley,” Bruns said.
While J.Q. Dickinson Salt-Works in its current form is only seven years old, the family business of salt making dates back to 1813 when William Dickinson, of Bedford County, Virginia, traveled to the region to invest in salt properties along the Kanawha River.
The region had been burbling salt deposits up to the surface for millennia after the nearly half-billion-year-old briny Iapetus Ocean had been covered up by the shifting Appalachian Mountains. The layer of land was no stranger to animals grazing on the salt licks that had formed in the pasture and people boiling the brine from springs to enjoy the remaining salt.
By 1817, Dickinson was producing salt by driving hollowed out sycamore trees deep into the ground and men inside would dig and send back buckets of muck. Timber, then coal, were then used to stoke furnaces that helped to evaporate the brine and reveal the remaining salt, which was used in large part in meat-packing industries for preservation.
Modern Day Minerals
Today, the process of salt harvesting focuses less on preservation and more on bold flavors.
Here’s how it works:
A well that is driven 350 feet deep into the earth pumps brine from the subterranean sea to the surface. That brine is held in a tank before being gravity-fed via a hose into a sun house.
In the sun houses, the brine is portioned into beds where it sits for about two weeks or so, depending on the weather, until it evaporates. It then moves to another sun house where after just a few days, the saturated brine begins to crystalize into white squares.
Once enough salt has formed and the crystals are the correct size, it’s harvested with a special birch wood rake made by local artisans. It’s then drained in cotton bags and the nigari, a liquid mineral by-product, is pressed out and packaged for use in tofu and fresh cheese.
Finally, the salt is inspected, sorted by size, ground if needed and then packaged into jars and bags. From brine to jar, the process takes about four weeks in the summer and longer in the winter.
The slow process lends itself to a complex flavor that develops over time.
“Salt from our source is mineral rich and full flavored,” Bruns said. “It has a pleasing texture and finishes on a slightly sweet note. People actually snack on our salt!”
Planting Seeds of Salt
Bruns has always had a taste for food.
“I was raised by parents who loved food and cooking. They especially liked to try new recipes so experimentation was commonplace in our kitchen,” she said. “This led me to explore a career in the food industry. I went to culinary school then worked in catering, charcuterie, institutional cooking and owned a restaurant/gourmet shop/catering company. I discovered the importance of good salt in the mid 2000s and began filling my pantry with salts from around the world.”
Now, the pure, mineral-rich deposits she harvests have made their way around the world in restaurant kitchens, home tables, and artisan shops. The small-batch artisan salt harvesters are once again providing this good to its local community — and beyond.
The Appalachian farm-to-table flakes are a simple concept with a complex taste that make for the perfect finishing touch to any dish. One of Bruns’ favorite ways? This simple avocado toast recipe that lets the crystals shine.
Recipe: Nancy Bruns’ breakfast toast
“My favorite breakfast is sourdough toast with avocado, arugula and smoked paprika buttered eggs, topped with our heirloom finishing salt,” she said.
Serves 2
Ingredients:
1 avocado
1/2 lemon, juiced
2 thick slices of sourdough bread
1/2 cup arugula
3 TBS butter
1 tsp smoked paprika
4 eggs
freshly ground black pepper
Directions:
- Cut avocado in half, remove the pit and scoop flesh into a small bowl. Add the lemon juice and a sprinkle of salt. Mash slightly with a fork until chunky, but spreadable.
- Place sourdough bread in the toaster to appropriate doneness.
- Meanwhile, melt butter in a medium saute pan over medium heat. Add the smoked paprika and cook until fragrant. Add the eggs, one by one. Cook gently, spooning the butter over the eggs to cook the tops. Cook to desired temp.
- Place a piece of toast on each plate. Top with the avocado mash, then the arugula. Top with 2 eggs and some of the paprika butter. Season with salt and pepper.