Would you like some salt?

Did you know that the Adriatic Sea is the northernmost sea where the salt is made completely naturally? A necessary condition for natural production, including the help of the sea, sun and wind, is a sufficient number of sunny hours and a favorable climate. On the south of Croatia, in the town of Ston the salt pan Solana Ston is situated, as one of the oldest salt pans in Europe, as well as the oldest active one in the world. According to some sources, the salt in Ston has been collected even four thousand years ago. Ston salt is specific in the world, it is the only salt that has no bitterness, therefore it is not necessary to use any anti-coagulating additives. The salt factory has 58 pools, sectioned into five groups, as the entire process has five phases and lasts one to two months, depending on the weather. There are eight crystallization pools named after saints: Francis, Nicolas, Balthazar, Anthony, Joseph, John, Peter and Paul, and one with the inscription Mundo, meaning world. In the times of the Dubrovnik Republic, there were two additional pools, Vlaho and Lazarus, with granite bottoms. These pools were used to extract the purest salt that was then sent to Viennese royal court.