SALT

Tokyo: this world-class metropolis is a veritable gourmet wonderland.

Discover the stories behind the ingredients that make this city so delicious - so "oishii."

This time, it's all about salt.

Its use in purification goes back centuries.

You'll find piles of it near an entrance, and you may have seen it used in a sumo match.

But of course, it plays a key role in the kitchen, too.

Used to season, pickle or ferment, salt is a gift that keeps on giving.

It's produced all around Japan, and there are many unique varieties.

Japan doesn't have rock salt deposits, meaning some areas had to get creative.

Some salt making methods haven't changed for over a thousand years.

More than just a household staple, salt is yet another key player in the evolution of Japanese cuisine.

Trails to Oishii Tokyo.

Hi, my name is Michael Keida.

I'm from America and I've been living in Japan for 16 years.

I'm an actor as well as a farmer.

My love of cooking started at a very young age, and since I've been in Japan-that's why I started growing all of these vegetables.

This is my first time doing this program.

And in my daily cooking, I'm very selective about salt.

So, I'm really looking forward to learning more about it.

He begins at a cafe near a big, lush park in central Tokyo.

Their menu offers ways to enjoy unique varieties of salt.

I hear you have something special here.

Yes. We have salt extracted from
Yuya Bay in Yamaguchi.

You can sample salt here too.
Would you like to try some?

I'd love to.

Yuya Bay has brackish water and
is surrounded by forest.

The flavor of the salt differs every
season as the environment changes.

How exactly?

Rainfall and winds during
typhoon season are factors.

These introduce different nutrients into the rivers
that flow into the bay, altering the salt's flavor.

Does that mean flavors are different every year?

Of course. You could even say the
flavor changes a bit every day.

Salt that comes in limited form.

Right. It's very special.

Nutrients enter the rivers and flow down into the bay, mixing with seawater to produce one-of-a-kind salt.

Seawater is poured over rows of bamboo and left to drip down.

The wind, and the heat from the sun, increase the salt content.

The solution is then boiled down, producing salt crystals.

Mixing it spreads around nutrients evenly.

Michael tries spring salt first.

"Oishii."

There's a lot of seaweed in spring, so the salt
has a strong sea aroma, like seaweed salt.

Summer next.

- Very different.
- What do you think is different?

The flavor expands more quickly.

- That's it. Yes.
- Is that right?

Summer salt receives the most minerals from the forest,
so it has the deepest flavor of the four.

Autumn salt has the best balance of "umami" and sweetness.

It's the one to use when making rice balls.

Winter salt has a refreshing flavor, so it's good with fatty fish.

- Actually, I grow vegetables.
- Great.

All year.

I dry tomatoes, and I use salt to speed up
the process and prevent mold from growing.

I think using this would provide a richer flavor.

Absolutely.

Interesting. Having a different salt to use
every season is very Japanese to me.

The flavors are nuanced rather than just strong.

They have subtle differences.

That's my favorite thing about Japanese food.

Michael visits a salt museum to learn more.

It offers permanent displays detailing the culture and history of salt from Japan and beyond.

What's the difference between
Japanese and overseas salt?

In terms of where it comes from,
Japanese salt is mostly from the sea.

Sea salt only accounts for one-third of overseas salt.

The rest is rock salt.
So, it mostly comes from inland areas.

Salt mainly comes from natural deposits in rock form.

The rocks are crushed to make table-ready salt.

I said one-third of overseas salt is sea salt,
and most of that is the product of sun drying.

Seawater is stored in large ponds like this.

In desert-like conditions, the water
evaporates over time and leaves salt.

I guess it rains too much in Japan for that.
So, how is it made here?

Right. Rain would interrupt this process.

You can also extract salt by boiling.

But seawater is only 3% salt.

Evaporating all that water for a small
amount of salt is a waste of energy.

That's not good.

So in Japan, the seawater needs to be
thickened before it's boiled down.

How does that work?

Several methods are used around the country.

Ancient Japanese salt production is depicted in famous "ukiyo-e" woodblock prints.

In this method, salt is taken from shores that get saturated during high tide.

For centuries, this was mainstream until the mid-20th century, mostly in inland areas.

In other areas facing the Sea of Japan, where tides are lower, and in coastal areas with rough waters, methods involving human labor were used.

Adapting to their local environment, Japanese producers made salt the only way they could.

Today, seawater is thickened in factories
using electricity that moves the salt around.

- On exhibit here is an old-fashioned way.
- That's a big pot.

This cauldron is used for boiling down
seawater and crystalizing salt.

In that picture, a man is seen
splashing water toward the ocean.

Seawater is collected and poured
over sand. It's very tough work.

It's an ancient method that continues today.

- They still do this?
- In one region, yes.

Michael heads to Noto Peninsula, the only place in Japan that uses a method that's remained unchanged for over 1,000 years.

Designated as a globally important agricultural heritage system, Noto practices agehama-style salt production.

It involves collecting water from the ocean and pouring it over sand terraces.

A mixture of cool and warm currents invites more plankton.

This provides more nutrients, and boosts the salt's "umami."

Also, currents keep the water clean.

This is all perfect for making tasty sea salt.

At five in the morning, it seems Michael is already late for work.

- Good morning.
- Morning.

Okeda Tadashi has been at it for 17 years.

What's the first step?

First, we collect seawater.

We use these buckets.

I've seen this in historical dramas on TV.
First time I'm seeing it in real life.

Put it over your shoulders, and go get water.

Seems tough.

Okeda prepares some buckets for Michael, and they head off.

- A good morning workout.
- Right.

Doing all this seems exhausting.

Here we go. It's cold!

This water's nice and cold!

- Pretty cold.
- It is.

About this much?

This is pretty difficult.

Fill the buckets with the same amount of water.

Otherwise, keeping your balance might be tough.

- This is heavy!
- It is.

It weights around 80 kilograms.

This is super heavy.

The seawater is kept in a large open container before it's poured over the sand.

It may seem pretty straightforward.

He made it look so easy, but it wasn't quite as easy as I thought.

How many times do you do this?

About 20 times.

Every day. Amazing.
I'm tired after one trip.

He works from early in the morning on sunny days from April to October.

Using sand allows water to evaporate easily, making it easy to recover the salt.

Swing right to left as hard as you can.

Right. And go as far as you can.

Can I go this way?

Nice!

Great job. You're a natural.

Around 600 liters of seawater are spread evenly over the sand.

In summer, they use twice as much.

The sand absorbs the seawater, concentrating the salt content.

Wow. It's still 6:30 in the morning, and I'm already beat.

That amount of work at this early in the morning is incredible and I know that there's still a lot more work to be done later on today.

So, well, you have to have a lot of respect for people that do this kind of work.

After drying in the sun for about eight hours, the sand is raked to the center of the field.

They rake around 500 square meters of sand, in the scorching heat, and move it into a large wooden container.

Yeah, this is definitely hard labor.

Additional seawater is filtered through the salty sand to create a brine that's high in salt content.

The seawater was 3% salt.

This is now around 16%.

Creating a salty brine outside is only the first step.

Next, it will be boiled down in large cauldrons indoors.

It's boiled over burning logs.

The brine simmers for three hours from three in the morning.

After that, salt crystals begin floating to the top.

What's that floating?

We call it flower salt, the first crystals to form.

It's milder than regular salt.

Milder?

May I try some?

You're right.

"Oishii."

As the temperature and humidity change each season, adjustments are made to the heat and boiling time to make sure the salt has the right flavor.

Nine hours have passed since the fire was lit.

In about three more hours, it'll be completely boiled down, and the salt will be ready.

The water's all gone.

Right. It's done boiling,
so we can take out the salt soon.

The salt sits for four days.

During this time, it separates from a salt solution called bittern, or "nigari."

"Nigari" contains magnesium chloride, which is used to harden tofu.

This entire operation produces around 120 kilograms of salt.

It's practically an artform - they work passionately to keep traditional salt making alive.

Noto is an area surrounded by ocean.

The region produces a lot of salt and rice, which are both key fermentation ingredients.

Naturally, the region has mastered the art of preserving food to prevent waste in summer, and to survive harsh winters.

This local guest house takes pride in its local fermented ingredients.

Meet Australian-born Benjamin Flatt, and his wife, Funashita Chikako.

Beyond salt, they have locally sourced fish, vegetables, and soybeans for miso paste.

Horse mackerel with homemade cottage cheese.

Wow.

So Beautiful! Wow.

What's with the salt?

The salt is Noto salt.

It's a very... it has a lot of flavor of the sea.

Because Noto has like 200 different types of seaweed, when they make the salt, there's a lot of that type of flavoring that comes into the salt.

Okay.

Large grains of salt are sprinkled around like snow.

Let's eat.

It has so many different flavors in there.

It's delicious.

Kind of a depth of flavor from the seaweed in the salt in there.

That's so good.

Benjamin loves to use "ishiri," a local fish sauce made using Noto salt.

Recipes have been passed down over generations.

His "ishiri" is made by pickling squid in salt and letting them ferment for over a year.

The recipe came from his father-in-law, who's apparently quite an expert.

Nexfermented sardines called "konka iwashi," a Noto specialty.

Sardines are fermented in rice bran with a ton of salt.

He's using some that fermented for over four years.

Benjamin chops up "sazae" meat into small pieces.

"Konka iwashi" have a strong flavor, so you don't need much.

This is seasoned with "ishiri" and garlic butter, and stir-fried with green onions.

It's served with focaccia that was made using Noto salt.

That's a great way to have it. It's so good.

Yeah, the salt, rather than covering the food, it brings out the natural flavors in all the ingredients, doesn't it?

So, what it does is it works on the part in your mouth which "umami" gets fired.

And it fires off the "umami" atom, and then everything else in there's got "umami" flavor in it, so you just get this powerful flavor.

- It kind of wakes everyone else up inside your mouth.
- Yeah.

So, the salt wakes it up, and then the "konka iwashi" says, "Hi, welcome to Noto," basically.

Here's a really, really intense flavor of Noto.

It's so good. Man...

Have you always been into salt?

Has it always been a big focus of yours in your cooking?

Flavors of "ishiri" and Noto salt, yeah.

I've really, like, you know, those type of things are very important to me to make sure that people can understand, you know, what flavors come from Noto, what type of things that are available from this area.

So, mostly it's the Noto traditional pickling and fermentation.

And then, of course, because pickling and fermentation uses salt, then people get to taste the salt as well, throughout the food.

Delicious Noto cuisine that makes the most of precious salt.

Over here.

After his intense journey, Michael returns to his farm.

Since coming to Japan, I've really gotten into wild edibles, and this is kind of my wild edible part of my farm.

He grows over 100 types of vegetables on a 6,600 square-meter farm that he cultivated himself.

He'll cook up some food using salt that he brought back.

I am going to make salt potatoes, which is actually from my hometown, Syracuse, New York.

In a liter of water, I put 400 grams of salt.

And I add these. These are smaller potatoes, which are not easy to use for like French fries or stuff like that but they're great for a dish like this.

So, we should go ahead and throw them in there.

And let them boil away.

It's great doing tempura outside in the wild because you don't have to worry about the house smelling of oil.

His meal is ready.

Seaweed salt, smoked salt, and more - he's got quite a few salt and food pairings to test out.

"Itadakimasu." Let's eat!

I guess I'll try the tempura first.

And we've got-for the tempura, I have "yuzu" and seaweed salt and then also "wasabi" salt.

So, I'm going to try one of these flowers, and we're going to try this "yuzu" salt.

Wow.

Oh, that's so good!

The "yuzu," it just, it kind of combines with the fragrance of the flower and just - oh, that just makes a fabulous, mellow taste in your mouth. Wow.

So, open up my fava beans, which have been nicely steamed.

Some people like to take off the skins, but I actually like them with the skin just like that.

Check out that powder.

It looks almost like powdered sugar.

Wow.

Because it's in a powered form it just melts immediately, so you get a really fast kick of the salt.

But still, it's not so overpowering.

So, for my shaken margarita, I've saved the best - the salt I actually participated in making in Noto - for the glass.

Wow.

I've had a lot of margaritas, but this salt, it just makes it even sweeter and it really brings out the tart of the lime as well.

Now, it looks, with this coating, it looks like it would be probably really salty, but in fact, having that salt on the outside brings out the sweetness of the potato,

and it's just bursting with flavor. Whoa.

And now... smoked salt.

Try this smoked, it really works well.

I'm going to put a little bit more on top of that.

Oh! The color is just incredible. Look at that.

Heaven!

Wow, it's just like a... there's an orchestra of sweet and tart and then the smokiness in my mouth.

That smoked salt really compliments this well.

Before joining this program, I thought I knew a thing or two about salt.

But in fact, there's a lot more to it that I didn't know.

For example, the amount of labor that goes into it gives me a greater appreciation for it.

And also learning about how many different flavors there are and different ways to eat it gets me excited about how to use it in different foods from here on out.

I look forward to trying lots of different salts in the future.

In Tokyo, every ingredient has its own story.