Couple savour success after using traditional method to extract salt

A husband-and-wife team have worked together to bring salt-making back to Scotland by using the country’s only graduation tower.

Gregorie and Whirly Marshall, owners of Blackthorn Salt in Ayr, came across the graduation tower method of extracting salt, which dates back hundreds of years.

Mr Marshall, whose family has worked in the salt industry on the Ayrshire coast for generations, said it was always a dream of his to continue on the family business.

Speaking to the PA news agency, he said he had been playing with the idea of starting his own salt company for more than 15 years.

“We finished building around two years ago”, he said.

“We got a builder in, Archie McConnell, who’d done some green woodworking and he managed to find a few like-minded people to help out.

“We had a year of running it, to work out what worked best. It was quite nerve-wracking, the first production – but I’m relieved to say, and of course I’m a bit biased, that it tasted great.”

The sea salt is created by piping salt water from the sea into the tower.

It is then trickled down through 54 taps down a bed of blackthorn bushes.

This process is repeated, sometimes thousands of times, before enough water is evaporated to move to the next stage.

The remaining brine is then gently heated to evaporate the remaining water, and then the sea salt is harvested.

Mr Marshall said this process allows for a sweeter, milder salt, which greatly enhances food.

Master salter Gregorie Marshall in the tower.