Why Kenyan River Reed Salt Is So Expensive | So Expensive

on day one Harvesters cut out these River reeds and in eight days after drying burning and filtering the Reeds will produce one of the most expensive salts in the world just one tablespoon of river Reed salt costs about one dollar in Kenya compare that to the four cents it costs locals for the same amount of sea salt so how do producers make salt from River Reeds and why is it so expensive River read Saul or tumbi ya kinyagi is made from the Reeds of the machua plant that grow along the enzoya river once the salt is extracted it's typically sold in small quantities to chefs and luxury hotel owners in Kenya and abroad buyers describe its saltiness as powerful and umami-like I buy the river in salt because of I will say the magic in it the texture is smooth it is not for course for those who have tasted Umami from Japan it tastes almost the same but this one has more of a Sharp taste so when you're cooking with it you won't use a lot of it today only the buccuzu community in the village of wabuye continues the traditional process of making this rare salt by hand this is the enzoia river and this is Andrew onioni sikanga Andrew and his sons harvest the Reeds that grow along the Riverbanks before they go out to harvest Andrew starts the morning with a prayer I mean they pray for protection from the dangers they might encounter at the river like snakes and crocodiles to avoid coming into contact with them Andrew and his sons need to harvest early um today they're looking for ripe River reeds foreign [Music] if the read isn't at least two meters tall and the flowers at the top aren't wilted and nearly dried the concentration of salt will be too low Andrew hacks away at the ripe breeds being careful not to uproot the plant or cut too close to the roots that way the Reeds can regrow more quickly and The Roots can continue to spread onto other rocks only reads with a high salt content make the effort worth it because from them Andrew can make enough salt to sell um foreign though there was a mild injury today's Harvest was a good one after a long day of navigating the Waters of the enzoia river Andrew and his sons leave the riverbank with a lot of reeds foreign those 20 tablespoons will sell for about twenty dollars now they can begin the long manual process of extracting salt first Andrew must dry the reeds drying Reeds can take four days when the skies are sunny but in cloudier weather it'll take longer to begin processing he has to burn the Reeds for one to three days once all the Reeds turn to Ash Andrew places them in a large pot with drainage holes foreign ly adds water the water filters through the ashes and holes each drop collecting at the bottom he pours those droplets through another filter and into an aluminum pan next he places the pan over an open fire where the solution is left to boil until the liquid evaporates finally after a full day of work Andrew was left with this wet salty paste the next day he packs the paste into banana leaves and places them under hot ashes to dry [Music] after three hours the salt hardens from Reed to Salt the process takes at least eight days Andrew will sell the salt in the banana leaves this is the same long process his family has practiced for Generations it's believed the tradition began in the 17th century when the bakusu people migrated Eastward from Congo at the time areas in Western Kenya were cut off from Salt roots so they set out to find a way to extract salt from these aquatic plants centuries later the salt that was made out of necessity became a pricey commodity at the market this pack containing just three tablespoons of river Reed salt costs about three dollars and this larger pack seven dollars it's likely to sell because local demand is high buyers know the intense work put into making the salt so for them the price is worth it [Music] although there aren't studies to confirm it Market sellers say that part of what keeps the salt in high demand locally is the belief it has special medicinal properties but the most notable feature is its taste in fact Andrew's River Reed salt won the title for most unique indigenous salt at an international Gastronomy exhibition in Italy in 2014. slow food one of the organizers of the exhibition established a presidium in 2009 for Kenya's River read Seoul to drive more demand for the product but fulfilling that demand would require more Supply which is difficult when production is so limited one of the biggest threats to River Reed salt production is climate change according to slow food the growing population in Kenya has led to deforestation indigenous trees along the angzoia river have long held soil particles together and provided shade keeping temperatures stable but the loss of these trees along with higher temperatures unstable River levels and landslides has contributed to the loss of river reeds Andrew tried growing the Reeds with other water sources but couldn't get the same outcome is you [Music] foreign in addition to conservation efforts like replanting indigenous trees slow food is working on creating more marshy areas for the Reeds to grow since the river reads salt really does well with the waters from the river we were thinking about if we tried a little bit to divert some of these water from from the river and have a mushy area plus some of the Rocks we can actually try to see whether we can increase the number of breeds because I know that as the people continue knowing about this particular salt there will be high demand this project along with increased commercial exposure of river read salt hopes to help producers like Andrew and his sons keep their work alive for generations to come

Channel: Business Insider

Views: 1,500,581

Keywords: Business Insider, Business News, So Expensive, River reed salt, Salt, Nzoia River, Kenya, Slow Food

Id: 0s3sHxarTZ8

Length: 9min 22sec (562 seconds)

Published: Sat Apr 02 2022