The salt of the earth

(Picture: the sea at Eftalou)

Most countries north and west of Greece are suffering a real winter. On the Dutch news there is much talk about the impending shortage of salt they need to sprinkle on slippery roads — they’ve already used up all the salt that was stored for that purpose.

Here on the island our white salt mountains around the gulf of Kalloni bathe themselves in the shiny sun. There is salt enough on the island (see ‘Pretty salt’) but there are no slippery roads which need it, during what is really quite a warm winter. What salt is on the roads has been blown there by the unusual southwesterly wind that keeps coming back and hurls waves over the waterfront roads where in summer tourists take their strolls. When that seawater disappears from the roads we might start using the roads as salt pans. In fact it could be a gold mine for Greece if the rest of Europe continues with its serious shortage. A smart Greek could sell our salt mountains for double the price!

The Greeks need money very badly, because the country is nearly bankrupt. Lots of taxes have risen like for cars (there is a new ‘eco’ tax on old vehicles), on pure alcohol (from 11,4 euro a litre to 13,7 euro) and on cigarettes (from 57,5 % to 70 %). Locally, the municipalities of Molyvos and Petra are also in trouble because of the devastating damage down by these storms from the south-west. They have been asking for money from Athens to make repairs, but the national treasury is empty which means we probably won’t get help from the government. And really, the winter has not really started here on Lesvos.

In the north of the island the salty sea is undermining roads, in Holland they prefer to undermine the land itself by extracting extra salt in the northern province of Friesland. As if we weren’t in the EU and they couldn’t get the extra salt from other parts of the community, like Greece.

European governments probably shouldn’t have been listening to the pharmaceutical industries who advised in favour of mass vaccinations against the Mexican (or swine) flu. A lot was spent on those jabs, whereas it might have been wiser to buy more salt to be ready for winter; so now the governments’ worst fears have been realised: business in Europe has come to a standstill, not because of the flu but because of the weather and the salt shortage. They could have got plenty from Greece, which as well as fixing the problem would have helped this country out of its financial mess.

In the region of Polychnitos and Lisvori, around the Gulf of Kaloni they have found the ruins of very old settlements. Along the coast north from Skamnioudi they include traces of a big ancient port. Now the waves have been gradually wearing down the earthen walls where you can see different layers of historical settlement. They also found coins from Mycenean times and even skeletons are rising out of the earth. They say this coast used to be named the ‘White Coast’. So probably the wealth of castles, villages and the big harbour came from salt making. Certainly there was a time that salt was as valuable as gold and possession of the salt mountain at Skala Polychnitos could have been a reason to fight a war. Nowadays white gold is strew over our roads.

The price of salt will rise a little after this long and cold winter but the times when you could buy or sell a slave for a hand full of salt are definitely not coming back. Maybe we will quarrel over salt, like they do over the salt fields in Friesland, but we wouldn’t take up arms to settle the dispute. The salt mountain in Skala Polychnitos will soon be forgotten by traders and tourists.

Even though that there is no snow in Eftalou, if they do not quickly repair the road, our little part of the economy will come to a standstill too. If the road becomes totally impassable for cars and the local bus which runs in summer (now only small cars can pass, at their own risk) part of Eftalou will be cut off. It won’t harm the world economy, but still... At least we are not suffering from the flying snow of blizzards, only from the flying salt from the sea!

(with thanks to Tony Barrell)

@ Smitaki 2010

Pretty salt

We often wonder why there are so many rare birds to be seen on Lesvos. It’s partly because our island is on the geographical crossroad between the cold north and the warm south, the continents of Asia and Africa.

There is a special attraction for birds migrating back and forth: the salinas —salt flats — at Kaloni and Polichnitos. Black winged stilts and flamingos love these saline wetlands, as do ducks and other small water birds. Many of them are looking for food and nesting opportunities on their journey north in spring.

As long as salinas are well managed, the birds don’t impact the production of salt, and if salt producers take care that birds’ nests are not flooded and there are enough safe places for the birds to nest, then the industry is of ecological as well as economic value.

In the whole of Greece there are seven significant salinas with economic value: two on Lesvos. In Messolonghi-Tourlis the salt is manually harvested and in other regions (Kitros, Messi, Nea Kessani, Aggelochori and in Polichnitos and Kaloni) salt is harvested with the aid of machines. There are some small salinas like on Kythera and Mani where they do as well manual harvest and on some other places salt is harvested from small pools between the rocks at the shore line.

On Lesvos, as you drive across the island from Mytilini to Kaloni you can’t fail to notice the salinas and the huge white salt mountain at the head of the Gulf of Kaloni. Plenty of drivers are annoyed by the salt trucks which travel between Kaloni and the little port of Petra, where the salt is loaded into freighters for distribution to other parts of the Aegean. The salinas of Polichnitos are not so well known, probably because it is less likely to be visited by tourists.

Whenever you add salt to your food, you probably don’t realize how precious it is. Salt used to be even more valuable than gold. You can see the evidence at an antique market where ancient salt shakers feature, but the ordinary plastic modern version might never suggest just how salt once played a leading role in the history of food and civilization.

In his fascinating book ‘Salt, a world history’ the American Mark Kurlansky describes all the many possibilities of usages of salt. Without salt there would be no mummies, no salami, no salt fish, no cheese, no bombs and lots and lots more.

Starting in ancient China and the days of the Egypt’s pharaohs he tells us about civilizations that revolved around salt: wars were fought over salt, revolutions launched, governments became rich from salt taxes, houses collapsed, armies got lost. Kurlansky explains the role of salt in creating the old Roman sauce of Garum, the original recipe for tobasco sauce or a Breton Galette. He also writes about the history of salinas, salt mines, salt mountains and even a salt city and there are simple recipes to preserve fish, meat and vegetables.

Salt fish have always been important in the Greek kitchen. In antiquity fish was brought from the Black Sea to Athens in salt. That way it stayed edible for about a year. Soldiers got salt fish when they went to war and it was said that salt fish was a good appetizer, and so it was often served as a starter at dinners.

You still find salt fish on the modern Greek menu. The sardines from the Gulf of Kaloni are famous in Greece and so are salted tinned versions (which are a very good alternative to salted anchovy) both of which are important export products. I once heard a tourist say that the salted sardines (sardelles pastès) from the Gulf of Kaloni never needed to be salted because of the high level of salt in the water. The Gulf may not be quite as salty and buoyant as the Dead Sea where you can float almost on top of the water and although it is very salty, to make good sardelles pastès you will definitely have to add salt. People who like salted herring from Holland will love this recipe:

Sardelles pastès:
Put 1/2 a kilo of sardines in layers on a scale. Take a cup of coarse sea salt and cover every fish, and between the layers, with salt flakes. Leave them for 6-8 hours in a cool place. Rinse them clean, take off the heads and gut them, drizzle the fish with a little olive oil, sprinkle it with fine cut parsley and serve with two half lemons and a glass of ouzo. Use fresh sardines (caught the same day) and good olive oil. Enjoy!

Last weekend Athens celebrated the opening of the New Acropolis Museum. Of course, no museum on Lesvos is that sensational. But Lesvos can be proud of a lot of small and very different museums. The nicest is the Natural History Museum of the Lesvos Petrified Forest in Sigri and the most remote one is the Lakovidis Digital Art Museum in Xidera. According to the salt project ALAS a salt museum was planned for Skala Polichnitos in 2003, just next to the salinas. There’s been an exhibit but so far nothing else. So I can only wonder what happened to that project?

(With thanks to Tony Barrell)

@ Smitaki 2009