Falksalt Gourmet Mediterranean Sea Salts
Salt is salt. It doesn’t matter what you use to cook, as long as you use it sparingly, right? No, no, no. Wrong. If you have the right salt, the right pepper, and the right oil, you don’t really need much else to season your foods. And let me tell you, folks, I found the right salt! Falksalt! I love it so much, and I bet you will, too.
It started last year with that Hello Fresh meal delivery service. One week, they included a little canister of wild garlic flavored Mediterranean sea salt flakes and a forty percent off coupon to try more flavors. I’d already been using kosher salt flakes for my cooking since culinary school, but this was like switching from powdered eggs to having hens laying fresh eggs in your backyard. The quality and purity of the salt were obvious from the first taste. I cannot imagine myself using any other salt for cooking dinner ever again.
After trying the first salt, I wanted to share this experience with others. I decided to give away some salt for Christmas. I perused their website and drooled over the variety of flavors—Rosemary, Citron, Wild Garlic, Wild Mushroom, Chipotle, Smoked salt, Lime, and Salt & Pepper. They even had this awesome gift set that was seven different flavors for only $40. I had to get it. I needed part of one for myself, and one to split up to give away to my family and coworkers for Christmas. And that may be just where I went wrong.
I ordered two gift sets and two pairs of personal salt tins. I got my forty percent off, paid their shipping cost, and waited for its arrival. When it finally got to me, I was so excited. I wasn’t sure how big the package would be since I had no real reference for how large the salt containers were. I'd assumed that the one I already had was the same size as what I'd ordered. I was stunned when I opened the little pair of boxes that showed up with huge canisters of salt. Then I realized they’d only sent me half of my order.
Once I looked at the invoice, I got it. It just had a small 2 in both quantity columns. It was really easy to miss since I had ordered two of both things. Maybe if I'd ordered three or four of the little salt tins, it'd have been different, therefore noticeable. But, they'll fix it, right?
I had an unboxing video to put here, but after watching it, I couldn't post it. My videos are terrible. Seriously...just so bad. If you've watched any of the others I have put in blogs, you'll realize how atrocious this one must have been for me to not put it up.
I wrote to the company. They told me they’d send me a tracking number by the end of the day and they’d be sending me the rest of my order. Then I didn’t hear from them again. Granted, this was between Thanksgiving and Christmas, so I’m sure they were busy as hell. After a week, I wrote them again and got a reply the next day with my tracking info. I checked it and realized that they were sending it via expensive overnight shipping since I’d slipped through the cracks. WOW! I felt that was really going above and beyond. They probably spent nearly as much on shipping as I spent on my order.
Enter UPS, who apparently does not do second delivery attempts during the holidays, even for overnight mail. Of course, I’m expecting packages nearly every single day in that last two weeks before Christmas. So, when I’m in the bathroom on Friday, he leaves a note on my door saying that I can pick up my three packages at the drop-point on the next weekday—Monday. Doesn't matter that I’m also having more UPS packages arrive the next day. He can't bring the three he took back on Friday. Nope. No second delivery attempt for the OVERNIGHT MAIL package to the address that has other scheduled deliveries.
When Monday arrives—my birthday—I go to the UPS store and pick up my three packages. The one from Falksalt is enormous. I can barely maneuver my way to my car, let alone fit all three boxes into my backseat. I eventually manage and go about the rest of my day.
My fun birthday dinner at Gojo's Japanese Steakhouse, in Kansas City, Missouri.
Between lunch with my mother and dinner with my husband, I opened my huge shipment of salt. It didn’t take me long to figure out why the box was so big. Instead of just sending me the missing portion of my shipment, they resent my whole order. They also included a beautiful Kosta Boda giftset as an apology for the mix-up. I was blown away. All I’d asked for was the rest of my order. I had even gotten 40% off because of Hello Fresh, so it’s not like they owed me anything extra at all.
*As a side note, I'd like to point out that Kosta Boda is older than the USA--it was founded in Sweden in 1742, so you know it's some quality stuff to have stuck around for this long.
My only unresolvable complaint was that the canisters were not sealed properly. They all had a thin, peel-off plastic film that covered the outside of the containers, but the seal only wrapped around the top—thus actually securing the lid—on half of the flavors. I’ve written to the company again to thank them for the gift and for resending my order in time for Christmas. I also let them know about the seals and which flavors arrived open in my second box so that they can check and redo their seals to prevent this for other customers in the future. Luckily, none of them had arrived open in the first box, so I did still have at least two of each flavor. Again, fantastic customer service. They wrote me back and let me know that they are actually changing the packaging due to customers having issues with the lids. How exciting!
I have tried all of the flavors that I’ve kept. I love each and every one of them. The Citron is fantastic on fish, chicken, or tomatoes in a mixed green salad with lemon juice and olive oil. The Smoked salt is a great finisher salt for steaks—just sprinkle some on after the steak is cooked and it’s resting. I used the Rosemary salt on potato wedges in my air fryer; my husband and I both loved them. And of course, I love garlic, so I’ve been using that Wild Garlic salt I got from Hello Fresh for nearly every meal I’ve cooked since I got it. I just finished it off a few days ago, after receiving it back in November. I’m guessing it was maybe an ounce or an ounce and a half. I never weighed it. But these 4.4-ounce canisters are going to last me for-freaking-ever. I mean, I cook almost every day. But when you only need one or two pinches of salt for a whole meal… Well, these pictures speak volumes.
I have so many ideas for things I want to make with this salt. Keep in mind, I graduated as a baker and pastry chef, so I can't get chocolate off my mind. And caramel... Like, smoked salt-caramels dipped in dark chocolate. Or lemon truffles with a citron salt finish. How about some chipotle truffles? And who doesn't love just a good ol' plain salted caramel?
To sum it all up, I’m in love with Falksalt. I’ll never buy another brand. It might take me a few years to use all of this salt (4.4 ounces times 5 containers is almost a pound and a half of salt and I’m on a salt-restricted diet) but the next time I need some, I’ll damn sure be buying it from FalksaltUSA.com.