by Marissa Sherman
Salt & Sundry is the ultimate go-to place for “goods for good living” in D.C. The shop carries handcrafted furniture, linens, dinnerware, and a pantry equipped with cocktail ingredients and small-batch foods, including a variety of salt brands.
Some of the high quality salt brands with an interesting story at the shop include: J.Q. Dickinson Salt-Works, Salt=Water, Amola, Salt of the Earth Co. and Bulls Bay Saltworks.
Why the name “Salt & Sundry?”
Salt & Sundry’s shop owner, Amanda McClements (insert hyperlink www.amandamcclements.com), opened the store to share her love of cooking, entertaining and design. When asked about the shop’s name, she jokes her favorite food is salt and explains, “I love how essential salt is to life and how it’s tied to the history of civilization. It’s crucial to accentuate flavor in food. When I was trying to think of a name for the shop, I wanted salt to be part of it. I also loved the vintage connotation of “sundry.” It reminds me of old general stores, which is essentially what I wanted to update. I loved the sound of the two words together.”
Curating Salts for the Shop
When choosing which salts to carry in the store, Amanda looks for great quality and an interesting story. Amanda describes the reasoning behind carrying a wide selection of salts in the shop, “There’s been a revival in small-batch salt production in the United States, and we have an opportunity to highlight those makers at the shop.”
J.Q. Dickinson Salt-Works
The salt is handmade, sourced from an ancient sea trapped below the Appalachian Mountains and processed naturally by the power of the sun and mountain breezes. The salt is a small-batch finishing salt with the batch number written on every product.
The salt company’s website explains, “Awareness of the land and where our food is sourced is deeply connected to a healthy community. We will donate 2% of our net profits to organizations that help this cause.”
What Amanda likes about this salt: This is such a cool story, and I love to tell people we stock West Virginia sea salt. Makes no sense, right? The sibling founders have revived a century-old family business in West Virginia. They pull brine from an ancient ocean deep under the Appalachian Mountains and solar evaporate it, something their family started seven generations back.
Salt=Water
Salt=Water is a kosher, cooking salt carried at Salt & Sundry. It is all-natural, solar-evaporated, and harvested from waters in Brazil. The owner of Salt=Water is based in the district and decided not to take a profit from the salt until $1 million is raised for global clean water and sanitation projects.
What Amanda likes about this salt: This is a really great quality kosher grain salt with a charitable mission. Founder Leland Morris set a goal to contribute $1 million for clean water initiatives by selling salt. Many of the district’s best chefs are now using this salt in their kitchens.
Amola Aztec Molé Salt
Based in Canada and developed by the founder and president of Edible Canada, Amola uses as many locally sourced and organic ingredients as possible. Amola prides itself on “celebrating and enhancing cuisines from around the globe.”
What Amanda likes about the salt: Amola makes great flavored salts, and I love the traditional molé what is mole? What makes a spice a mole spice? Why are these spices special? spices they’ve mixed into this one, including cocoa nibs, chipotle and cinnamon.
Salt of the Earth Co.
Based in Brooklyn, New York, this salt is naturally pink and hand-harvested from Peru. The company gives back to the people and companies involved in the production of this vibrant salt.
What Amanda likes about this salt: This is another salt that pulls double duty with a charitable mission. These beautiful pink crystals come from mountains of Peru, where salt pans were created in pre-Inca times. The founder donates funds to charities in Peru.
Bulls Bay Saltworks
Based in Charleston, South Carolina, Bulls Bay Saltworks aims to celebrate the city’s distinctive regional taste in the salty air. The naturally pure salt is derived from one of the healthiest saltwater ecosystems on the east coast.
What Amanda likes about this salt: As a Southerner, I was excited to find this sea salt out of Charleston. It’s a great example of the deepening quest for sourcing ingredients locally. The salt water is sourced from a wildlife refuge that’s home to a vibrant ecosystem supporting all kinds of shellfish. The water is solar-evaporated to create a flake salt and heartier crystals.
Salt & Sundry carries numerous small batch salts, but the store also offers many other sustainable pantry options. Check out their stops at Union Market and Logan Circle in DC.
Marissa Sherman is a student studying sustainable agriculture at the University of Maryland. She likes to live her life meal-to-meal and often features pictures of those delicious meals she enjoys on her instagram account. She tries to eat as much local and organic as possible and is having fun exploring the DC food scene.