Alaea Sea Salt Pickles

A couple weeks ago, I was wondering around World Market and stumbled on alaea salt. I used to use it when I lived in Honolulu – mostly when I seared ahi.

Anyways, it’s been a little over two years since I moved off island and I totally forgot about the salt. I ran across it again and immediately bought a bag.

My first thoughts were about using it to ferment. I did a quick Google but I didn’t see many resources talking about using alaea salt in fermentation.

Last weekend, I bought some small cukes from the Palafox Market and thought I’d try my hand at some dill pickles, made with alaea salt.

I prefer pickle spears while Josh prefers slices. He tends to put them into sandwiches while I put my spears next to the sandwich. Anyways, this time I thought I’d be a darling and slice them for him.

Due to their small size, they only took two and a half days to become sour and stay crunchy.

I put them all into jars and tossed ’em into the ol’ icebox. After I make some bread this weekend, I may try adding them into a sandwich. Frickles also sound nice.

The flavor to me is bright but in a young pickle sort-of-way. There’s a jar of ~6 month old pickle spears in my fridge that have a sharper zing that comes with age.

There’s something very familiar with the flavor though. It’s been a long time since I’ve had alaea salt. If you run across the salt, try it when searing meat. It has a wonderful, earthy flavor!