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Photos: South Africa's Baleni salt spices up top cuisines

The sacred salt is harvested by hand from the banks of a remote river in South Africa

Last updated: November 10, 2019 | 16:09

Compiled by Christian Borbon, Digital Content Producer

2 MIN READ

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Germaine Esau, Chef de cuisine at the Myoga fine-dining restaurant, uses Baleni salt to prepare a dish in Cape Town.

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Baleni salt is used to prepare a dish of seared tuna, preserved plum Eugenia berries, shiso, radish and macadamia.

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The Baleni salt is collected on the bank of the Klein Letaba River near Baleni, in the South African province of Limpopo

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Basani Mathebula, 43, cleans the mud-made filter used to extract the salt on the bank of the Klein Letaba River.

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The Baleni crystals are tiny, evenly-sized and chunky with a very salty taste.

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The Baleni salt is harvested traditionally in the dry season from the Klein Letaba river in Limpopo province.

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Bags filled with salt lay on the bank of the Klein Letaba River.

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A mud-made filter used to extract salt is seen on the bank of the Klein Letaba River.

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A mud-made filter used to extract salt is seen on the bank of the Klein Letaba River.

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Ndaheni Mashele, 66, lifts a bag filled with salt collected from the Klein Letaba River near Baleni, in the South African province of Limpopo.

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Phephu Mchavi, 62, scratches salt from a metal pan on the bank of the Klein Letaba River near Baleni.

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Josephine Macete, 48, (R) oversees salt-rich water boiling on the bank of the Klein Letaba River. The Baleni salt is sacred to locals in the remote northern region of South Africa where it is mined from a spring.

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