Sea Salts of Hawai‘i

Sea Salts of Hawai'i
We’re a local company that creates locally sourced and uniquely flavored Gourmet Sea Salts and offers a range of culturally meaningful and authentic Hawaiian gifts, wedding favors and amenities. Our salt is harvested from salt farms on the tiny island of Molokai and from ancient deep sea waters off the Kona coast on the Island of Hawaii making our sources are as unaffected by human influences as possible.

Traditionally Hawaiian Sea Salt was used in ceremonial blessing of outgoing canoes and tools and to preserve abundant catches. It was one of the first items exchanged between Hawaiians and early Traders and even today, a gift of salt is considered a symbol of good luck and blessing and makes a beautiful and meaningful personal or corporate gift.

Hawaiian Sea Salt has a unique combination of taste, mineral content and naturally contains magnesium and potassium which help maintain your body’s electrolyte levels.

Our Sea Salts are packaged with aloha at Lanakila, a work and vocational training center for people with challenged lives.

The Hawaiian Islands Trading Company
In ancient times, before the days of money, we had what is commonly referred to as a Fish and Poi barter economy. In 1778 when Captain Cook landed on Kaua‘i the Hawaiian Islands, the last place on the planet to be “discovered,” the barter economy began its evolution into a monetized economy.

Hawai‘i would go on to become a center of Pacific trade, an artistic and cultural bridge between the east and west and home to the planet’s most diverse population. Out of this rich mix a distinct cuisine evolved that blended the flavors of the world into unique dishes and concoctions.

In the spirit of discovering, making and sharing the best of these flavors of Hawai‘i Hawaiian Islands Trading Company was established. We are starting small with Sea Salts of Hawaii, a gourmet line of Hawaiian sea salts that reflect our ancient roots and our role as the “melting pot of the planet.” May these salts of Hawai‘i add flavor and texture to your day!

For Corporate Gifts or Bulk Orders, please contact Sandra Gibson directly at sandra@hawaiianislandstradingcompany.com

Aloha,
Hawaiian Islands Trading Co.

Hawaiian Salt Legends
There are different versions of Hawaiian legends about salt and in an interesting article on the salt pools near Hanapepe Kaua‘i, Keya Keita writes about one of them:

So the story goes: A young woman was fishing on the western shore of Kaua‘i. The sea had been generous, too generous, and she caught more fish than her family could possibly eat in one day. Distressed at the prospect of wasting the sea’s gifts, the woman began to weep. The fire goddess Pele heard her cries and took pity. She told the young woman to follow a rainbow from the mountain to the sea, where she would find shallow pools filled with glistening white crystals. If she rubbed the crystals on the fish, Pele said, her catch would be preserved. This is how Pele taught the ancient Hawaiians to use sea salt, or pa‘akai—literally, “to solidify the sea.”

The Making of Hawaiian Salt
In 1823 the Reverend William Ellis William Ellis traveled around the Island of Hawai‘i and wrote about the production of salt in Kawaiahae:

“The natives of this district manufacture large quantities of salt, by evaporating the sea water. We saw a number of their pans, in the disposition of which they display great ingenuity.

They have generally one large pond near the sea, into which the water flows by a channel cut through the rocks, or is carried thither by the natives in large calabashes. After remaining there some time, it is conducted into a number of smaller pans about six or eight inches in depth, which are made with great care, and frequently lined with large evergreen leaves, in order to prevent absorption.

Along the narrow banks or partitions between the different pans, we saw a number of large evergreen leaves placed. They were tied up at each end, so as to resemble a shallow dish, and filled with sea water, in which the crystals of salt were abundant.”

The Journal of William Ellis,