Shameless Plug Sunday: Secret Stash Sea Salts

Well before my boyfriend returned to Turkey a few weeks ago I had started scheming about a Seattle-themed care package to send to his parents. I have not had the opportunity to meet them yet, but his Mother has been so kind and supportive about our relationship that I wanted to show my gratitude and share a little bit of my city (and the city where their son has been spending so much time) with them.


Without hesitation, I wrote "Secret Stash Sea Salts" on the list of items I intended to gather and send.B actually introduced me to their product after he had picked up a jar of Nicoise Olive salt at the nearby Queen Anne Farmer's Market and used it on breakfast eggs, as they had suggested, and later as an accent to a chicken fettuccine dish that he would make. A few weeks later, I was visiting Dave Sheely Design's booth at Urban Craft Uprising and ended up coming across the Secret Stash booth, where they were offering tastes of their artisan salts and selling 1 oz. samplers. I tasted and enjoyed all of the flavors they had, but immediately fell in love with the Lavender Rosemary blend and ended up buying a sampler to take home and try. A little goes a long way (especially for someone who mostly cooks for one or two) - it's been about 6 months and I still have a smidge left.


They have an array of mouth-watering options: Truffle, Smoked Chipotle, Bloody Mary, Chorizo, Almond Cardamom, Coconut Garam Marsala, and occasionally some additional flavors are available in limited release.


Not only are their salts amazing, their business is local and consists of 2 people: Chef Joseph Conrad and Janna Wemmer (read more about them here). Janna has been supremely helpful and friendly in all of my interactions with her and when I finally placed my order online (they should be back at the Queen Anne Farmer's Market when it opens for the season, but they do have reasonable shipping charges in the meantime) after deciding which samplers to send to Turkey, she got them in the mail to me very promptly. Furthermore, she has been happy to give application tips and recipes (also featured on the website: www.secretsalts.com), solicits input about new flavors (check out the blog: http://wwwsecretstash.blogspot.com/)and wants to know how you like to use their salts.


They're in my Top Ten "Businesses Totally Worth Supporting" but I can only eat so much salt by myself, people. Help a sister out.