Cornish Sea Salt Company

Cornish Sea Salt Company began when founder Tony Fraser came across the remains of an Iron Age salt works on a cove on Cornwall's south coast and wondered why the industry had disappeared - rock salt had simply replaced it. He set out to bring sea salt harvesting back, sourcing brine from the open Atlantic waters around the Lizard, one of the few sites in the world still harvesting from open ocean rather than an enclosed bay. The Lizard's serpentine and gabbro rock is unusually rich in magnesium and calcium, minerals that shape the salt's flavour and mineral content, and the water itself is Grade A classified, among the cleanest in the country.

The salt is still hand-harvested, and the company has grown from that single cove into an exporter selling in more than 36 countries, on the tables of Michelin-starred kitchens as well as home cooks - work that won it a Queen's Award for International Trade. The range runs from flaky sea salt crystals to blended seasonings, all made at their site near Helston on the Lizard Peninsula. It's sold through independent stores and supermarkets across the South West and beyond rather than from a shopfront of its own.