Last week, the Sale di Cervia was up for a Sofi Award at the Fancy Food Show in NYC, (the Best of Specialty Food) for the “outstanding Baking Ingredient, Baking Mix or Flavor Enhancer.” So how could something as seemingly simple as salt be up for such a prestigious award, against all of the admittedly “fancy” foods at the fancy food show?

Here at Via Umbria, we are all aboard the quality salt train. Once you have cooked with the salt of Cervia, the grocery store variety tastes like…something you would put on the roads in winter. This is not snobbery. This is fact.

Here’s some proof: two of Italy’s most famously salty products use this salt for seasoning. Parmigiano Reggiano cheese, and prosciutto di Parma both utilize Sale di Cervia to get that perfectly salty flavor. Now do we have your attention?

Salt production in Cervia, a small town between Ravenna and Cesenatico on Italy’s Adriatic coast, dates back more than 2,000 years, beginning with a mixed history dealing with the Umbrians and Greeks. Its name comes from the Latin “acervus” meaning a mound of white salt, called “white gold.”

So why is this salt so…salty? Sale di Cervia is entirely sea salt, with 2-4% natural humidity, and it is never artificially dried or blended with anti-caking additives. This method preserves all of the minor elements found in sea water: iodine, zinc, copper, manganese, iron, magnesium and potassium. Sale di Cervia is harvested from the last remaining artisanal and seasonal salt flats in Italy. Tasting this salt feels as good as taking a dip in the blue, blue waters on the coast of Italy.

There is even a salt museum in Cervia! Bill and Suzy attempted to visit a few years ago, but were thwarted by the very odd opening hours, from 8:30 PM to 11:00 PM…perfect for if you have a hankering for a salty late night snack (but not so ideal otherwise).

We carry the “Salt of the Pope” which is up for the award at the Fancy Food Show, “Sweet Salt,” which has a lighter taste, and milk chocolate with sea salt, which is dangerously good. Shop now, before the word gets out, and hop on the salt train with us!

Ci Vediamo

—-Via Umbria