New Gig for an Old Salt

Matt Mullins may not be that old but he’s definitely sailed the seven seas as a career Navy man, with a strong interest in food and cooking. It was while he was stationed in Naples, Italy, for three years that Mullins recognized what a difference in taste a good “finishing salt” could make. Now on the verge of retirement in Newport, he looked around and realized that he could harvest sea salt from the Brenton Point area because of its specific “merroir.” The water is quickly moving across the rocks there and much of it has been filtered by local shellfish. Lab tests have borne out Mullins’s patience with extraction methods, his careful study of tidal charts and weather conditions for best collection times and his commitment to putting no extra anti-caking agents or bleaches into his product. Newport Sea Salt is free of heavy metals and pesticides and contains just trace minerals of magnesium and potassium, along with the natural calcium of salt (calcium chloride). It may be a bit coarser than regular salt and it may taste a bit briny, but, hey, it’s sea salt!

Co-owned by Mullins’s wife, Tami, Newport Sea Salt is available at specialty stores in Providence and Newport, the Aquidneck Island Growers’ Market in Newport and the Schoolyard Market in Warren. 401.479.0041; NewportSeaSaltCo.com