South Africa’s sacred Baleni salt spices up Cape Town’s cuisines

Giyani/Cape Town: With a sleek swish of his knife, Germaine Esau, the head chef at Cape Town's award-winning Myoga restaurant, slices open a freshly caught tuna, tops it with seaweed and delivers his masterstroke: a sprinkling of sacred Baleni salt.

“It’s like nothing you’ve tasted before,” he says. “It brings all the flavours out and just lifts everything.”

Hand-harvested from the banks of a remote river in Northwestern South Africa, Baleni salt is developing a growing culinary following, as much for its unique taste as its back story.

The salt, say locals, is sanctified by the spirits of their ancestors, for the crystals come from the water of a holy spring said to have healing powers.

Top chefs prize it for crystals that are tiny, evenly-sized and chunky and with an inimitable savour.

“It gives quite a mineral taste to anything you do and it’s very salty, so a little goes a long way,” Esau said.

Baleni salt is used in numerous luxury restaurants across Cape Town and Johannesburg, where it retails for 125 rand ($8.24, 7.49 euros) per kilo.

At the Myoga, Baleni salt became the salt of choice after the restaurant decided to phase out imported products and go for local sources.

Replacing Maldon salt from England, Baleni salt is served in dainty ceramic bowls on every table inside the old Englishstyle building built in 1800.

“Everyone likes a story and there’s a great story behind the salt,” Esau said.

The spring is dubbed “kamkhulu” meaning “the place of the great one.” According to legend, the spirit of ancestors who first settled there give it its power.

High in magnesium, chloride and other minerals, the water can treat high blood pressure and aching muscles, according to locals.