Salt

Salt: the switch for flavour. It’s incredible what happens: a few grains, and everything tips from flat to wow. Flaky, smoky, crystal clear, dark, every salt changes what you cook. It lifts, binds, gives depth and direction. Without salt there is no life; with the right one, cooking begins.

Buy salt: sea salt, rock salt and spiced salts from Manufaktur Funke

Salt is the most important seasoning in every kitchen, and at the same time the most underestimated. In Michelin-starred kitchens I learned: salt isn’t just salt. The origin, the structure and the timing of salting decide whether a dish tastes flat or gains depth. In my manufactory in Heiden AR I carry eight carefully selected salts that make exactly this difference. If you want to buy high-quality salt in Switzerland, you’ll find quality here that I use myself every day.

Flor de Sal: the finish for pros and connoisseurs

My Flor de Sal from Portugal comes from the historic salt gardens of the Algarve. There, in calm wind and strong sun, wafer-thin salt blossoms form on the water’s surface, lifted off by hand with wooden scoops. The result: delicate, crispy flakes with a mild, mineral taste that melt on the tongue straight away. I never use Flor de Sal for cooking, always only at the end, right before serving. On fresh tomatoes, over grilled vegetables, on a good steak or simply on warm bread with butter. That way the flaky structure stays crispy and the salt releases its aroma at exactly the right moment, precise and controlled, not dull and hard. Flor de Sal is also the base for many of my spice blends, from the burger seasoning to the herb butter seasoning.

Rock salts: pure minerality from the depths

For everyday base seasoning I recommend two rock salts that couldn’t be more different. My cubic halite salt from Pakistan, at 99.9% sodium chloride, is one of the purest natural salts there is, crystal-clear, intense and with no bitter notes. Ideal in the salt mill or as a fine everyday salt. The Spanish rock salt from the Catalan hinterland, on the other hand, comes with a natural reduction of the sodium content by 25 to 40 per cent, entirely without technical processing. Mild, slightly pink, perfect for sweet-salty combinations like caramel sauces or dark chocolate bakes. If you deliberately want to use less sodium without giving up flavour, you’ll find a natural solution here.

Pyramid salt: texture and elegance

If you let the eye eat too, reach for my pyramid salt from the Greek Aegean. The hollow, pyramid-shaped flakes are created by careful evaporation in open stainless-steel pans and are a true finger salt: thin-walled, crispy, mild and mineral. I use it right at the table, on bread with olive oil, over baked potatoes or on quickly seared meat. A salt you can see and feel.

Smoked salt and spiced salts: aroma on a new level

My Druid smoked salt from Denmark is smoked for 6 to 8 weeks over Norwegian juniper wood, no liquid smoke, no artificial aromas. This salt is one of the few in the world that is genuinely smoked the traditional way. It brings an intense, floral smokiness to eggs, tomatoes, fish and meat.

For plant-based cooking, my Kala Namak is a discovery: thanks to its natural sulphur content it tastes of egg, perfect for vegan scrambled-egg alternatives, tofu or curries.

Herb salts: quick seasoning with character

My wild garlic salt combines hand-harvested Flor de Sal with gently dried wild garlic, fresh, garlicky, ideal on potatoes, egg dishes or avocado toast. And the chilli salt brings fruity fire to any dish with three hand-picked chilli varieties, Wiri Wiri, Charapita and Bird’s Eye. No dull burn, but heat with tension and depth.

Buying salt in Switzerland: hand-picked quality from Heiden

All the salts in my range are natural, free of anti-caking agents and additives. They’re checked in my manufactory, filled batch-pure and packed aroma-tight, the way I use it myself every day. Whether as a finish, as a base seasoning or as a spiced salt with character: the right salt makes the difference. You’ll find the right inspiration in my recipe collection, and in the over 350 spices and blends in which salt plays a leading role.

Where exactly does Swiss salt come from?

Switzerland is actually self-sufficient in salt, and has been for centuries. The salt comes from a primeval sea that dried up around 200 million years ago and today lies deep beneath the Jura. The Swiss salt works in Rheinfelden and Riburg extract this so-called Jura salt from up to 400 metres deep. The exception is the Saline de Bex in the canton of Vaud: the last active salt mine in Switzerland that isn’t on the Rhine. That’s where the exclusive ‘Sel des Alpes’ comes from, a salt with history and character.

In my manufactory I deliberately work with salts from different regions of origin: Flor de Sal from Portugal, cubic halite salt from Pakistan, rock salt from Catalonia or pyramid salt from the Greek Aegean. Each salt brings its own structure, minerality and use, and that’s exactly what makes the difference on the plate.

Why is Swiss salt (iodine & fluoride) regarded as a global pioneer?

In 1922 Switzerland was the first country in the world to fortify table salt with iodine, to combat the goitre that was widespread at the time. One of the most successful health measures in Swiss history. Today classic Swiss table salt (JuraSel) contains iodine for the metabolism and fluoride for the prevention of tooth decay as standard.

That’s important to know when you choose salt deliberately. My salts, whether Flor de Sal, halite salt or Druid smoked salt, are natural and not fortified with iodine or fluoride. That’s by design: if you use a finishing salt or an aromatic spiced salt, you want pure flavour, no additives. For your daily baseline of iodine and fluoride, I recommend using an iodised household salt in addition.

What does the 'salt regale' (salt monopoly) mean for consumers?

The salt regale is an old Swiss right: sovereignty over salt extraction lies with the cantons. They have transferred their right to Schweizer Salinen AG, which has the legal mandate to guarantee Switzerland’s salt supply at all times, including compulsory reserves. That’s genuinely relevant for a landlocked country without its own sea-salt coast.

For a long time the import of foreign salt was strictly regulated. Today the market for speciality salts is more open, and that’s exactly why I can work in my manufactory with hand-picked salts from Portugal, Pakistan, Spain, Greece and Denmark. For the professional kitchen and for connoisseurs who want to taste the difference between a crispy Flor de Sal and a crystal-clear rock salt, this variety is a gain.

What's the difference between 'JuraSel' and 'Sel des Alpes'?

These are the two faces of Swiss salt. JuraSel is the high-purity, machine-processed standard salt from the Rhine salt works, reliable, neutral, the everyday salt in every Swiss kitchen. The Sel des Alpes from Bex, on the other hand, is produced more traditionally and is regarded as Switzerland’s gourmet salt. It often comes onto the market as ‘Fleur des Alpes’ in pyramid form, with a crispy texture, a character of its own and a distinctly higher price.

It’s exactly this Fleur des Alpes that I use as the base for two of my spiced salts: the Fleur des Alpes Herbs combines the crispy pyramid structure with a fine herbal note, perfect as a finish on vegetables, salads or egg dishes. The Fleur des Alpes Smoke & Belém Pepper additionally brings a subtle smoky note and the aromatic warmth of Belém pepper, ideal on grilled meat, baked potatoes or a good steak. Both show what this Swiss salt can do when combined with the right ingredients.

If you want to take the play with texture and structure even further: my pyramid salt from the Greek Aegean works on the same principle, hollow, thin-walled salt flakes that break between your fingers and melt straight away.

Is Swiss alpine salt purer than sea salt?

In fact: often yes. The problem with today’s sea salt is the increasing contamination with microplastics. Swiss alpine salt, by contrast, has lain for millions of years beneath metres-thick layers of rock, completely protected from today’s environmental pollution. It’s regarded as one of the purest salts in the world.

The same principle applies to my cubic halite salt from Pakistan: it’s extracted from deep mines, consists of up to 99.9% sodium chloride and is thus one of the purest natural salts there is, crystal-clear, without bitterness, without any off-taste. The Spanish rock salt from the Catalan hinterland also comes from geological deposits of a prehistoric primeval sea and is free of modern contaminants.

My Flor de Sal from Portugal is sea salt, but from protected salt pans on the Algarve that are run using traditional methods. The purity there is at a very high level. What’s always decisive is the origin and the quality of the source.