Alaea salt, sometimes referred to as Hawaiian red salt, is an unrefined sea salt that has been mixed with an

iron oxide Iron oxides are chemical compounds composed of iron and oxygen. Several iron oxides are recognized. All are black magnetic solids. Often they are non-stoichiometric. Oxyhydroxides are a related class of compounds, perhaps the best known of whic ...

rich volcanic clay called ''alaea'', which gives the seasoning its characteristic brick red color. It is part of

Native Hawaiian cuisine Native Hawaiian cuisine refers to the traditional Hawaiian foods that predate contact with Europeans and immigration from East and Southeast Asia. The cuisine consisted of a mix of indigenous plants and animals as well as plants and animals int ...

and is used in traditional dishes such as kalua pig, poke, and

pipikaula Pipikaula ("beef rope") is a Hawaiian cuisine dish of salted and dried beef similar to beef jerky. Pipikaula was eaten by Hawaiian cowboys (paniolos). It was usually broiled before serving. History In the 19th century John Parker brought Mexic ...

(Hawaiian jerky). It was also traditionally used to cleanse, purify and bless tools, canoes, homes and temples. Once exported to the Pacific Northwest to cure salmon, it saw a resurgence in popularity late in the 20th century in fusion style cuisine of Hawaii both on Islands and beyond.

History

''Alaea'', a water-soluble colloidal

ocherous Ochre ( ; , ), or ocher in American English, is a natural clay earth pigment, a mixture of ferric oxide and varying amounts of clay and sand. It ranges in colour from yellow to deep orange or brown. It is also the name of the colours produced ...

earth, was used for coloring salt, which in turn was traditionally used by Hawaiians to cleanse, purify and bless tools, canoes, homes and temples. Alaea salt is also used in several native Hawaiian dishes kalua pig, poke, and

(Hawaiian jerky). In the 19th century Hawaiians began producing large amounts of alaea salt using European salt making techniques and became a leading supplier to fishermen in the Pacific Northwest for curing salmon. It is claimed by one author that most alaea salt sold in the United States is produced in California, not in Hawaii. True Hawaiian-made alaea salt is expensive and before the rise of convenient Internet shopping was difficult to find elsewhere.

Colour

Alaea salt gets its characteristic brick red color from a volcanic Hawaiian clay called ''ʻalaea'', which contains some 80 minerals and is rich in

References

{{Salt topics Edible salt Hawaiian condiments

History

Colour

See also

References