Heat wave: the salt production of the Ile de Ré salt workers is exceptional

The high heat yellows the vegetation but causes the salt to grow! The production of the Ile de Ré salt workers is excellent, in this year 2022. The record for the scorching summer of 2003, 4,000 tonnes, is even about to be beaten! In mid-August, 3,500 tons of salt were harvestedaccording to the Cooperative des Sauniers de l’Île de Ré, which has 69 members, while the season is not over at all and there is still about a month of work.

Acceleration of seawater evaporation

These figures are explained by the weather. The scorching temperatures, accompanied by wind, accelerate the evaporation of seawater in the basins of salt marshes. “Normally the salt crystallization process takes a week, explains Nicolas Bécaud, president of the Cooperative des Sauniers de l’Île-de-Ré. There, it lasts only two days.“

But this acceleration of the process requires the salt workers to adapt. “If we let it, it will start to make a kind of soupcompares Brice Collonnier, a salt worker in Loix for 10 years, then after that nothing will happen. There will only be a slightly fetid smell…“The producer therefore, like most of his colleagues, shortened the water evaporation circuit.

Normally, seawater passes through a whole bunch of different basins, so that the salt gradually crystallizes. This circuit is currently far too long, given the rapid evaporation. Brice Collonier deleted 4/5ths. “It allowed us to fully understand what was going on beyond what we knewsmiles the salt worker, and that is very interesting!“

“There, sincerely, I think everyone would like a little rain” – Nicolas Bécaud, President of the Sauniers Cooperative of Île-de-Ré

Only, the producers are exhausted. “The season started a month early. You have to work in scorching temperatures, knowing that it’s even worse here, as there are no trees. And we couldn’t take a break, because it’s not raining“, says Nicolas Bécaud, the president of the Cooperative of the Sauniers of the Île-de-Ré. The rain makes it possible to slow down the process, and to grant a break to the salt workers. But this summer, the drops of water are very rare…