On this beautiful summer Thursday, the parking lot of the Île de Ré salt marsh Ecomuseum is full.
Many tourists come to discover the secrets of artisanal salt production.
This is one of the historical specificities of the island, which fell into disuse with the preservation of food by cold - and no longer by salt - in the 19th century.
Thanks to the department of Charente-Maritime and the municipalities which help young people to settle, it was brought up to date in the 1990s.
“It now supports a hundred salt workers on 750 hectares of marshes, compared to 1,500 hectares in the 19th century. They perpetuate a know-how that dates back to the 11th century, with the construction of the first dikes to channel seawater and extract salt,
explains Benoît Poitevin, director of the ecomuseum (30,000 visitors per year).
The whole technique of the salt worker consists in adjusting the speed of the water in his marsh while it evaporates, according to the sun and the wind, so that it arrives at good…
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