Salt Tower that’s proving the taste sensation for our palate
Gourmet crystals straight from sea
Towering over Newton Shore with the appearance of a giant bee hive, one of Ayr’s newest businesses is certainly quirky on the eye.
And one step inside the world of Blackthorn Salt reveals an ambitious bid to bring the finest quality of ingredient to plates up and down the country.
At its heart, this is an operation all about using natural resources.
Water sourced from Troon, added to the finest Polish blackthorn, ensures this is a painstaking process worth every drop of effort.
At eight metres tall and 35m long, the striking tower is where the magic happens.
And for couple Gregorie and Whirly Marshall, the brains behind the operation, it’s the culmination of a 15- year dream to make it happen.
Gregorie, managing director at the town’s iconic Peacock Salt, has been stepped in the business through family ties.
But he explains: “I’m a foodie at heart, and I guess you could say this has been my own baby.
“At Peacock it is about distribution, whereas this has always been about the ambition of producing something of ours.”
The journey has been a long and winding one since its initial conception.
Construction of the imposing tower which overlooks the bay was almost the easy part.
Getting to the point of producing their own gourmet salt was quite another with the trials and tribulations of lockdown thrown in for good measure.
Whirly, 41, revealed: “We were all ready to go just when lockdown struck.
“We had open days lined up for chefs to come and look at the facility and get a taste of what we’d done.
“But ultimately matters were taken out of our hands and it meant we just had to wait that little bit longer.”
In its simplest form, the salt is produced by allowing the best of the Ayrshire elements to hammer the tower.
By taking in the sea water, wind and rain, an evaporation process then begins throughout the tower, which also includes douglas fir and larch from Dumfries and Galloway.
Whirly added: “It can take up to a week all told before we get the finished product.
“The salt crystals that become the finished article are a lot bigger than you’d be used to in your average tub from the supermarket.
“But that’s what makes it a different product and one that we’re really proud of.”
Making the very most of the natural elements, the couple hope their new product will prove a hit at the high end of the market.
A string of top chefs from around the UK have already visited the tower and given the thumbs up to salt’s new kid on the block.
Whirly revealed: “Our gourmet salt is 85 per cent more sustainable than normal UK salt processes and is made in such a way that we believe is magical, visual and environmentally sound.
“We are really proud of both the taste and texture of Blackthorn crystals and are delighted that top chefs and hotels are already really impressed too.”
Local outlets are lining up to stock the product too with Seafield Stores, Dowhill Farm Shop, Pickens Butchers, Pieroni’s Fishmongers and Brodies Deli in Troon all offering the crystals.
We are really proud of both the taste and texture