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ARTISAN

SPOTLIGHT

CARLO THE

SALT SOURCERER

If you think salt is just for popcorn hold. That’s good. Come back a How did you and Chef Wood meet?
and margarita glasses, then you few weeks later. Is the water red? If I met Tim at the Santa Lucia Wine
haven’t met Carlo Overhulser. To so, brine shrimp eggs have hatched Gala in 2017. I noticed he had
Carlo, salt is anything but ordinary— and are feeding on the algae. The vials of salt he was handing out,
it’s a life-sustaining mineral and the water is darker and absorbs more so I gave him some of my “Fleur
main ingredient in each flavorful sunlight now. This accelerates de Sur.” (That’s fleur de sel, or salt
blend he crafts for Chef Tim Wood’s the evaporation process until the flakes, blended with flowers from a
culinary program. Carlo harvests pH level gets high enough for salt meadow in Big Sur.) He loved the
sea salt from the waters of Big Sur crystals to form. hyper-local aspect of it.
and infuses it with everything from
California sage to red wine from the How does plain salt turn into one What inspires your craft?
Santa Lucia foothills. The results are of your special blends?
pure magic. We asked Carlo to share I add only organic ingredients. I get inspiration from the
a few of his tricks. landscape—places I’ve hiked,
For example, for Chef Wood’s colors I’ve seen on the trails, and
garlic salt, I grind the salt and
What’s the secret to salt harvesting? then bathe it in a brine mixed with plants that grow there. My favorite
You look for a clear pool among organic garlic powder. I cover and part of the job is that it allows
me to constantly explore, to be
the rocks. A quick taste tells you if let the salt sit for days, stirring absorbed into the wilderness, and
it’s saltwater. If the pool looks like occasionally until it’s dehydrated to share the experience of Big Sur
it will hold water over time, come again. Meanwhile, I’ve been with everyone and not leave a
back after a few weeks of sun. Is the dehydrating minced garlic, which I trace.
water green? If so, algae have taken then blend in with the garlic salt.