Nancy Bruns and Lewis Payne caught my attention at the DC Home Show a few weeks ago. This remarkable brother-sister team has combined a sophisticated love of food with a 200-year old family tradition and reopened their family’s historic salt mine in Malden, West Virginia. Guided by a sustainable philosophy and a commitment to the environment, what they have created is nothing less than the salt of the earth: J. Q Dickson Salt Works is a wonderful discovery.
These unusually delicious and beautifully packaged salts are generated from the ancient Iapetus Ocean, which used to flow under what is now the Appalachia Mountains. I bought the “finishing salt” which is courser than kosher salt but not as coarse as salt flakes. I made pureed squash with nutmeg and butter, and served it piping hot in a bowl with this salt sprinkled on top. Good for the soul.
The Foreign Office 