The local salt that you buy at SuperMaxi or Hipermart contains fluoride. I am not happy to have extra additives in our table salt and have searched for sea salt for ages. In the meantime I have made my own by getting sea water and boiling it down until all you have left is salt. This is a time-consuming job and after boiling down 1 gal of sea water you get about 1 to 1 1/2 cups of salt.
A few days ago my neighbor Ivan was going into Charapoto and I hitched a ride looking for some good potting soil and DMSO at the local veterinarian store. I found that the veterinarian doctora had never heard of DMSO and the place where you can buy soil was closed. But on the way back to San Clemente I struck gold…sea salt. Our neighbors call it sal grueso or chunky salt.
A huge bag looked to be 75 pounds was selling for $5. It will take us forever to use that much salt so I asked for two dollars worth and honestly it looks to be around 40 pounds.
Finding our Paradise in South America 
my friend javeier told me that he buys salt from your area for his cattle. that’s probably the same salt. we had been discussing the same thing – where to get a better quality of sea salt…
it’s great to see the photos, though i am proud of your own home batch! z
Z, the one thing I have learned since leaving the US is to try to be self-sufficient when it comes to some items. Things are just not readily available here like back in the states so you make do…I love the computer for that, to look up how to make our lives better, making salt without any additives was just another step in making our lives better. I think the guy selling the salt got a real kick out of me and yesterday I brought my friends Lyndell and Ken to purchase some for themselves, they did not know that fluoride was added to all the table salt sold her. So this man had a grin on his face from ear to ear…be well friend, Nancy & Joe
Wow, how long will 40 pounds last hmmm.
T, A VERY LONG TIME ha ha It was such a find, I have seen it being sold while traveling by bus from Portoviejo to Clemente but we are on a bus and he is not going to stop to get me to get salt…I will tell you it filled an entire small storage container that you would but shoes or sweaters in as well as a full plastic shopping bag…my problem is stopping it from melting into a thick puddle on the bottom of the container…my friends suggested putting a plate of rice on the top. What do you thing? N
Hmmm, maybe you need to go into the “salt business” and sell to your fellow expats 🙂
You guys keep trying to get me to work, I am not sure if we can be friends if you keep that up, ha ha NO MORE WORK FOR ME….God Willing, Nancy
No work, that was suppose to be subtle hint to sell me a pound…lol 🙂
Mary, I am so sorry I am not the “queen of subtle” as you can see…of course you can have as much as you want. I will put some in a big plastic bag for you and it will be ready when John drives by or I can bring it over…whatever you prefer. Love you and you share so much with us, whatever I find I will gladly share with you. Nancy
Have you considered solar evaporation? Just put a thin layer of sea water in a large cookie sheet (with 4 sides) and put it in the sun. It should evaporate and leave a layer of salt on the bottom.
Tim, for a while I was just boiling sea water to make salt. Once I found someone selling huge bags for cheap I stopped making my own and just buy several dollars worth that will last for a very long time. Just hate the idea of the floride in the packaged stuff you find on the shelves here. Nancy
Did you ever find DMSO? I’m trying to find a place that would carry it.. I can’t believe I left the US without it!!!
Hi Bill, No we have not found DMSO. We are making a trip to Guayaquil in the next few weeks and have been told that you can get DMSO at the veterinarian supply stores around Parke Chile…that is one of our stops. If we find it I will let you know where we got it. We have checked in Bahia, Portoviejo and Cherapoto at a number of veterinarian supply stores, we have not found it there. Hope to have good news in Guayaquil. Nancy