After the flower is gathered, the "gros sel" or gross salt is harvested.
This salt has just a touch of the clay from the basins, which gives is a
slightly brownish color. Any cook in these parts will tell you it's the
only salt for cooking seafood to perfection. The Romans thought so, too,
and in order to build the greatest army in the world, they paid their soldiers
a "salary" quite literally a "salt
ration". In addition to being a measure of currency, played for
centuries a very important practical role. Until the invention of modern
refrigeration, salt was the only safe and effective means of preserving many
foods, including fish. Without the salt of the marshes, the fishermen of
Les Sables and consumers of many other places would have had far more
difficult lives.