SalterieOne brand

Ask any professional chef to name the most important ingredient in their kitchen, and odds are salt that will top the list. In plenty of home kitchens, however, salt hasn’t received that top billing, rather it’s purchased without much thought to its provenance, uses and styles. But not all salts are created equal.

Here, we offer six American-made brands of salt that stand out from the pack for their sustainability practices and community-focused efforts — and, of course, their superior flavor and texture. 

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Alaska Pure Sea Salt Company

There’s a lot to love about this brand besides the fact that its founders came up with the idea for salt making during their honeymoon on the shoreline of southeast Alaska. According to co-founder Jim Michener, the couple spent five years experimenting, while also working full-time jobs, to be able to consistently produce a true, delicate sea salt. Pairing science and artistry, they handcraft their additive- and chemical-free pyramidal salt flakes from Sitka Sound water. 

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Jacobsen Salt Co.

What started as a local, small business in 2011, has grown to a nationally recognized brand of flake and kosher sea salt, earning plenty of accolades in the process. Despite its growth, the company’s dedication to craftsmanship and community has stayed the same. Harvested from the pristine waters of Netarts Bay on the Oregon Coast and created with minimal natural processing, each flake of Jacobsen salt is hand-graded and sorted. 

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Redmond, Inc.

With its landlocked location, Utah may not be the first place you think of when it comes to salt production. But since 1958, Redmond Real Salt has been working hard to challenge that. Mined from what geologists think was an ancient inland sea, known as the Sundance Sea, Redmond Real Salt has a subtly sweet flavor. Produced under ethical labor standards and sustainable practices, this unrefined, unprocessed salt is additive-free and contains trace minerals from the ancient sea bed.  

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Amagansett Sea Salt Co.

A couple’s passion for fine food and life by the ocean helped drive the creation of this Long Island salt company, which is well known for its superior finishing salt. Using seawater from the Atlantic Ocean, collected bucket by bucket, Amagansett salt is crafted entirely by hand in small batches using just the sun, ocean breezes and open-air salt pans for evaporation. This salt, which is free of anti-caking agents, bleaching, additives or other chemical additions, is prized for its distinct texture and briny taste of the Atlantic Ocean.

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J.Q. Dickinson Salt-Works

For more than a century, this family-owned business has been creating all-natural salt, sourced from a brine aquifer located below the Appalachian Mountains. The brine is processed naturally by the sun, and the salt is then hand-harvested. Free of contaminants and heavy metals that may be found in other water sources, J.Q. Dickinson salt is naturally high in minerals, contains no preservatives or artificial additives and is free of microplastics. 

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SalterieOne

When Lily Leedom couldn’t find the high-quality, domestically made salt she was looking for, she took matters into her own hands (literally) and created this Duxbury, Massachusetts-based artisan salt company. Chemical- and additive-free, SalterieOne’s 100-percent-natural sea salt is notable for its fluffy texture, which allows it to melt quickly on food. Rich in naturally occurring minerals, this hand-harvested salt is intended to be used throughout the cooking process.