01x03 - Salt

[bunniefuu]

[pickax striking]

[striking continues]

[narrator] Life as we

know it begins with salt.

Born into this world

4.5 billion years ago,

it spread across the planet,

seasoning our oceans

and settling in dense deposits

beneath the earth's crust.

For thousands of years, humans have

done the most extraordinary things

to harvest salt.

In the Horn of Africa, at the

far end of the Great Rift Valley,

in the shadow of where it's

thought that humans first evolved,

lies one of the lowest

points on the planet.

A volcanic chasm some 150

meters below sea level,

home to a body of water ten

times saltier than the ocean.

This is Lake Assal.

Camel caravans have been moving salt

out of this otherworldly landscape

for centuries.

Back then, they called

it "white gold."

Omet Moosa is among the last

still working the salt today.

We are salt.

It's in us.

It's all around us.

At any given moment each of us is

carrying more than two saltshakers

of sodium chloride inside of us.

Coursing through our

blood, swelling our cells,

allowing our heart to pump, our

muscles to retract, our brain to feed.

[wind whistling]

But it's more than biology.

More than necessity.

Dig deeper,

and you'll find that the history

of salt is the history of us.

[Moosa, singing in Afar] ♪

Ooh, my beautiful camel ♪

We will see what

will happen together ♪

All the camels get tired

All the camels get tired ♪

Except you ♪

All the camels get tired

All the camels get tired ♪

Except you ♪

[in Danish] We'll cover

it in salt like this,

- with the feet sticking out.

- [chuckles]

[Redzepi, in English]

You go to a restaurant,

the food was under-seasoned.

It's the worst thing that

can happen to a cook.

[laughs]

A guest asking for salt Whoo!

That will, uh, create

an instant panic.

When I first started out as

a cook, salt was just salt.

It was the same fine table

salt that any restaurant had.

Only when I started really

traveling and exploring the world,

I realized there's more

to salt than just salt.

[waves crashing]

Skimmed from mountain ponds.

Carved from caverns.

Boiled from the ocean.

Dynamited from mines.

Pink mountain. Black volcanic.

Blue crystal.

Of all the salt

wrested from the earth,

few have the quality

or the cachet

of the salt skimmed from the tidal

pools of France's western coastline

Fleur de sel.

In its meandering journey

from the Atlantic,

through the marshes

and tidal pools,

the salinity grows in intensity

as the water evaporates.

Here on Île de Noirmoutier,

salt has fueled the island's

economy since the dark ages.

Its 13-hundred-year history

is filled with ebbs and flows.

But one piece has

remained constant.

The delicate work extracting

Fleur de sel must be done by hand.

Seasoned veterans like

Elisabeth and Fabien spend years

learning to skim the fragile

crystals from the water's surface.

[Elisabeth, in French] It's true

that when we look at a marsh,

we can recognize its owner.

The way we shape it

with our hands

we inevitably put a little

piece of ourselves into it.

In my marshes you can find

my obsessions and my defects.

The part of me that

is very organized

that thinks there

is no time to waste.

Everything has to be managed

as well as it can be.

What is a good day

for a salt worker?

It's a day when you can

dry your clothes outside.

As a matter of fact,

we don't extract salt.

The salt forms in front

of us as we pick it.

It's different from the salt that

comes from mines or from Djibouti.

That salt was formed thousands

or millions of years ago

and comes from dried-up seas.

We follow the

crystallization process.

It's difficult to harvest,

and it takes time.

That's because it's

a surface phenomenon.

However, there is a

mysterious aspect to this.

There isn't a formula

for Fleur de sel.

"You can't say,

"With this much water

and that much sun

Poof! I can make

some Fleur de sel."

[Fabien] I ask myself a lot of

questions about how it works.

Sometimes I happen to make white

salt. Other times it's more gray.

Sometimes there's algae in the

marsh. Sometimes there isn't.

I've discussed this with

my salt worker friends,

and sometimes there is no

answer to these questions.

In nature, you have to adapt.

And that's what I

explain to the kids.

We can live just

fine if we adapt.

My son, Gustave, and I do everything

my parents said not to do.

We walk barefoot.

I teach him to use drills

and different tools.

We make dams out of dirt.

All the things we

wanted to do as kids.

And it's cool.

Let's go check on

the water plug.

See if it is opened or closed.

[speaks French]

[Fabien] He already

has his own marsh.

[speaks French]

It's open.

- Can you close it?

- Yes.

[Fabien] He says it's his

marsh. It's Gustave's marsh.

Great.

[speaks French]

And it is his marsh.

[speaks French]

[Elisabeth] What we do in Noirmoutier

is something not many other places do,

but we keep doing it.

We dry it with the sun, and

we don't use any machines.

We don't use any energy at all.

We put the salt on a big table

and let it dry under the sun.

And when it is dry,

we sort it by hand.

[Fabien] Fleur de sel

has something different,

something more

I think something more crunchy.

Some people find that

it tastes like violet.

It is like Beaujolais.

There are different

flavors every year.

Everyone finds what

they want in it.

[grunts]

[Redzepi, in English] Salt is layered

into every aspect of our story.

The numbers tell the tale.

There are more than 14,000

different uses for salt,

from making rubber

to melting snow.

Just 3% of today's

salt is used in food.

For 2,600 years, the Chinese

government controlled salt.

The oldest monopoly

in the world.

The taxes levied paid

for the imperial army

and for the Great Wall.

The English language teems with

dozens of words rooted in salt.

Sausage. Salary. Salacious.

The word "salt" is scattered

throughout the pages

of our most sacred scriptures.

"Salt of the earth."

"One fresh and sweet,

one salty and bitter."

"Everyone will be

salted with fire."

- [in French] Hi! How are you?

- Hi! How are you. [Kisses]

- Actually, it's a big season.

- Oh, yes.

[Redzepi, in English] Every

human tear, every drop of blood,

every bead of sweat

- is seasoned with salt.

- [speaking French indistinctly]

Once upon a time, a gram of salt cost

roughly the same as a gram of gold.

Today, a kilo of salt

goes for about 20 cents.

Not Fleur de sel.

A kilo of salt from Fabien

and Elisabeth's ponds

sells for more than ten dollars.

By the time it

finishes its journey,

this Fleur de sel will be in

kitchens around the world.

Back in the early days of noma,

it was the days of limited

budgets, limited guests.

We didn't have any machinery.

No real modern equipment.

And the first thing that

came to our mind was,

"What if we covered

things in salt?"

It was about wrapping

something around an ingredient,

so that the essence of

it got held together.

[grunts, mumbles]

First thing we

did it with was

during the winter, and it was

with, uh, celeriac and beets.

And a very mundane, simple

ingredient like celeriac

suddenly turned into

something luxurious.

I remember we would pack it in, uh,

mountains of salt and a few hours in

you could scoop out with a

spoon, much like an ice-cream,

you could scoop out this incredibly

tender and flavorsome celeriac.

The best I'd ever tried

at that one point.

Okay.

[blows]

[Redzepi] We may take

salt for granted today,

but not long ago

salt was everything.

Salt has shaped spirituality since

the beginning of civilization.

Influencing our beliefs, our rituals

and the stories we tell about ourselves.

[Elena, in Spanish] Maras has

been here since the pre-Incan era.

Maras has been passed down

from generation to generation,

and we're still

working the salt.

[Redzepi, in English] These

are the tears of Ayar Cachi,

the god destined to

establish the Incan empire.

Locked in a cave by

his jealous siblings,

he cried until he created

the Salineras de Maras.

The Incas turned this sophisticated

network of salt ponds,

3,000 meters in the Andes,

into a thriving ecosystem.

It continues today,

virtually unchanged.

A testament to the ingenuity of one

of history's most advanced societies.

[Elena, in Spanish] We start

by moving the salt around.

In Quechuan we call

this "chulquir."

And then we step on it.

After we do that, we

pick up the pink salt.

Pink salt can be used

for all types of food,

like roasts, mains,

sauces. Lots of things.

[Redzepi, in English] After

the fall of the Incan empire,

Maras salt was mainly used

in the small communities

that surround the salt pans.

Today, thanks to a unified cooperative

and a global distribution channel,

its value is appreciated

well beyond the Andes.

Maras salt is just one part

of an increasing awareness

of the Incas' contribution

to the food world.

And when the best chefs in

the world want to understand

a wild ingredient, or perhaps a

forgotten technique from this region,

they come to Cleto.

Cleto's central mission is a

different kind of preservation.

He wants to connect centuries of wisdom

to the food and traditions of today.

[Cleto, in Spanish]

Teaching is my passion.

I love teaching the things

I've learned in my life.

Like the little I've

learned about Andean culture

and the history of the Incas.

Historically, charqui

comes from Inca times.

[chattering]

[Redzepi, in English]

Here in the upper Andes,

salt is added to alpaca and

other fresh meat to make charqui.

Dried, portable,

potent and delicious.

You may know it as jerky,

but it started as a way to enjoy

meat through the cold winter months.

[Cleto, in Spanish] My mom

and my dad would make charqui.

That's the first time I

learned to make charqui.

Charqui is also a preserve.

If we leave the meat here, it will

go bad after two to three days.

But if we do the charqui process,

we will be able to preserve it.

[Redzepi, in English]

Salt is the gift of time.

A pinch can stretch a

season into an eternity.

From bacalao to prosciutto

to salted vegetables,

preservation through salt

meant we'd always have

food close at hand.

Which allowed us to

explore the world at large.

At noma,

when we were nothing more than

five, six, seven months old,

we stumble upon ramsons.

There's this little

seed on there.

A bud of sort.

One of our foragers told

us that in the old days

they used to make

capers from these.

We just had to salt it and let it

go through a fermentation process.

It's an extraordinary

versatile ingredient

that has the punch of garlic,

the sweetness of cooked

onion, the salinity of a caper

- and the acidity that you might get

- Mmm.

from a lactic ferment

such as kimchi or sauerkraut.

Nadine.

It's just incredible.

Oh. It works.

What happens when you add salt

to vegetables or a piece of meat?

Let it sit long enough and lactobacillus,

a probiotic bacteria, will begin to form.

Feasting on natural sugars,

drawing out acidity and preserving

life, sometimes indefinitely.

The pickled vegetables

of eastern Europe.

The sheep milk

cheeses of the Levant.

Barrels of herring

in Scandinavia.

These products

aren't just staples,

but pillars of the

cultures they come from.

Few dishes play a more central

role in a country's culture

than kimchi does in Korea.

The act of making kimchi is an

act of community done by millions

across the country each fall, just

before the first frost arrives.

[Kimchi maker, in Korean] To Koreans,

kimchi is as essential as water or air.

That's how much our

body requires kimchi.

It's a food that our

body calls out for.

I may be able to live without my

husband, but I can't live without kimchi.

Koreans eat a lot of vegetables.

We preserve vegetables in salt,

then mix them up with seasoning

and process them with fermentation.

That's what we call kimchi.

When I was young,

about ten years old,

I remember my mother making

kimchi with neighbors.

They drank makgeolli and sang

songs after making kimchi.

It would take three days for my

family to finish making kimchi.

And then we went to another

house to help them make kimchi.

And then to another house.

People exchanged labor

with one another.

It's a precious and

delightful memory for me.

Hello, hello, nice

to see you! Welcome.

- Cabbages that are just right for Kimchi.

- [Ha-yeon] Wow. Wow.

[seller] It's fabulous,

isn't it? The smell.

[sniffs]

How beautiful.

[both chuckle]

Really like the spring

onions, too. Issue the bill.

Okay.

[Ha-yeon] Today, we've changed

from a kimchi-making culture

to a kimchi-buying culture.

Kimchi has become a

commodity to be purchased.

So people have replaced the

high-quality ingredients

with cheaper ones in

a race to the bottom.

That's when I decided that I needed

to start my own kimchi business.

My goal is to reproduce

the high-quality flavor

of the kimchi that our

mothers used to make.

[grunts]

[workers chattering]

Even though I have a

kimchi producing company,

I believe my true talent lies in

teaching about kimchi and culture.

KIMCHI SONG

Kimchi, kimchi, delicious kimchi

Kimchi, kimchi, let's make kimchi ♪

Are you ready? ♪

Yeah! ♪

Kimchi, kimchi, delicious kimchi

Why is kimchi good for me? ♪

Do you want to know? ♪

[children cheering] Yeah! ♪

Kimchi is packed

with lactobacillus ♪

That cleans out your bowels ♪

Kimchi prevents disease

And keeps us healthy ♪

Kimchi is a super food ♪

Let's enjoy kimchi ♪

Yeah! ♪

Now I'll show you

how this big cabbage

becomes small like this.

To make this large cabbage

small, we need salt.

Right?

[children chattering]

[Ha-yeon] I'm really concerned that kimchi

won't be eaten by future generations.

Now our kimchi is ready!

Oh? Are you giving me a big

hand? Thank you so much.

[continues speaking in Korean]

Families eat out more.

They don't make kimchi at home.

And they don't feed kimchi

to their children very much.

Is everyone wearing gloves?

[children] Yes!

Then try to add the chile paste.

Let me see how it's going.

Yes, add the paste like this.

Great job!

When kids make kimchi

themselves and bring it home,

they start eating kimchi.

This is because they make

it with their own hands.

[Redzepi, in English] Fermentation

is more than preservation.

It's flavor.

As microbes work to break

down larger compounds in food,

they amplify existing flavors and

create new ones along the way.

Sharp sour flavors.

Rich umami flavors that humans

had never tasted before.

[Ha-yeon, in Korean] Layer by

layer, you add the seasoning

and put it in a jar.

Then we bury the jar in the

ground for fermentation.

Ripen deliciously.

All strong flavors in

the world are addictive.

After trying kimchi once,

people keep coming

back for more.

[Redzepi, in English] Salting food

is something you gradually learn.

Step-by-step.

As a young person, you

cook your first egg.

You add salt to it. And you

figure out how much do you like.

Some more, some less.

I think as a cook,

and probably the one thing

that most home cooks forget,

is to taste and season.

- Mmm.

- [laughs]

Food can transform from

bland, uninspiring,

perhaps even [stammers]

something you don't

like, to being delicious,

crave-able, "Give me more,"

"When can I have it again,"

"Please cook it next

week." [chuckles] You know?

That's a pinch of salt

that makes that difference.

Of course, as a professional chef,

if you don't know how to salt,

you [stammers] I don't know.

[chuckles] Can you even

call yourself a cook?

Salting is is at the

essence of everything.

It really is.

[child, in Spanish]

We'll build a big huatia!

[Redzepi, in English] For

all of our differences,

for all the things that make

one human unique from another,

one society distinct

from another,

we have a few things

that tether us together.

None more than what we eat.

Food is everything.

- [in Quechua] Mother Earth, we honor you.

- [person laughs]

[in Spanish] Elena, daughters

Cheers, nieces, nephews

- [in English] Cheers, Dad.

- [all] Cheers. [Laughs]

[Redzepi] Salt may be

necessary for survival,

but it's also essential for one of

the most indispensable ingredients

in the human recipe.

Our pursuit of pleasure.

[in French] Gustave, could you

bring me the Fleur de sel, please?

You can put it on.

Put a little here.

Awesome. We're in for a treat.

[Redzepi, in English] It's what

makes our lives more delicious.

Imagine a roasted

potato without salt.

A fried egg without salt.

A meal or a life

without seasoning.

- [grunts]

- Wow.

- [laughs, sighs]

- That looks great.

Oh, yeah?

Thirty-five minutes.

[guest chattering]

[Redzepi, inhales deeply] Whoa.

Food is never just food.

It's a mirror.

A microscope.

A road map.

[in French] Good?

[Redzepi, in English] It's

the story of who we are.