Bannow Bay
Bannow Bay at low tide. Vast tidal flats reflecting a pale dawn sky, a thin band of distant land on the horizon.

Bannow Bay · South-east Wexford

Salt the way the bay makes it.

Hand-harvested flake from a single bay on the south-east coast of Ireland. Solar-evaporated. Raked by hand. Sold to chefs and direct.

Shop the salt Read about the bay

One · The salt

Hollow pyramids, not granules.

A flake that snaps between the fingers. The crystal structure forms slowly, on still water, in shallow pans heated only by sun and wind. Nothing milled. Nothing crushed.

What you get is a soft pyramid that holds its shape on the plate and dissolves when it meets warm fat. Chefs notice this first. Home cooks notice it the second time they reach for the jar.

The salt is unrefined. Trace minerals from the bay come through as a faint sweetness on the finish. It does not need to be argued for. The pinch tells you.

Macro photograph of pyramid sea salt crystals on dark slate. Hollow, geometric flakes, the largest about ten millimetres across, soft edges catching the light.
Macro · Pyramid flake on slate · Bannow Bay 2025
A weathered hand drawing a wooden rake across a shallow salt pan at the close of the harvest. The water has gone; the pan is white with crust.

Two · The method

Three weeks from sea to table.

Sea water is drawn from the bay on a high spring tide and run into shallow stone pans. The sun does the work for the next twenty days, sometimes longer if the weather is against us. When the brine concentrates, pyramid crystals begin to form on the surface tension of the water.

The salt is then drawn off by hand with a wooden rake, drained on slatted boards, and packed within a week. Nothing is heated. Nothing is bleached. There are no anti-caking agents.

  • 21 days Solar evaporation
  • 3 hands On any given day
  • 600 kg Annual yield, hand-harvested
Aerial view of a series of salt evaporation pans at the edge of Bannow Bay. Geometric grids of shallow water reflect the sky, divided by low stone walls.

Three · The bay

A sheltered tidal estuary, nine miles east of Hook Head.

Heavy storm clouds rolling in over Hook Head peninsula, the lighthouse just visible against the sea, the water below dark and unsettled.
Hook Head · February squall · 2025

Four · The weather

The salt is made by the bay, not by us. We pay attention to the weather, draw the water, rake it off, and try not to get in its way.

Aoife Kearney, salt-maker

Three weeks of dry weather is generous. Two is more usual. A poor summer means a thinner harvest and we sell out earlier, which is what happens when nothing is forced.

Five · The salt-maker

Aoife Kearney runs the pans.

Aoife took over the harvest from her father in 2021. She has a chef’s training and a hydrologist’s patience, which between them are most of what salt-making asks for.

The plates around the country tell me what we made that summer. A wet July gives a softer flake. A clear August gives a crisper one.

The team is two people through the harvest months, three at the height of summer, and Aoife on her own through the winter pack-and-ship.

Aoife Kearney · Salt-maker · Bannow Bay
A single plated dish at a Michelin-listed restaurant. A piece of cured fish, a smear of green sauce, three flakes of Bannow Bay salt scattered across the surface, photographed under restrained natural light.

Six · The plate

Where the salt finishes its work.

The kitchens below buy by the kilo and finish with it. We do not pay for placement; we are listed because chefs ask for the flake and stay with it.

Seven kitchens. Two stars between them.

  • Aimsir Co. Kildare · IE
  • Variety Jones Dublin · IE
  • Liath Dublin · IE
  • Bastible Dublin · IE
  • The Square Tralee · IE
  • L’Enclume Cumbria · UK
  • The Clove Club London · UK
Top-down flat lay of three Bannow Bay kraft paper bags, lined up on a slate surface. Hand-stamped labels in deep slate ink.

Seven · The range

Three formats. One salt.

Direct from the bay · Shipped within five working days · Restock when the harvest allows

  • Hand-harvested flake 120g glass jar · Cork-stoppered £18
  • Kraft pouch 100g · Re-sealable · Refill format £8
  • Wooden gift box 120g jar + 100g pouch + recipe card £32
Shop the range Trade enquiries

Direct

Order from the bay.

Posted within five working days. Free shipping over £40 within the UK and Ireland. The harvest sells out in February most years; if a format is empty on the shop page, the next batch is in pan.

Shop the salt

Trade

For kitchens.

If you cook for a living, write to us. We supply by the kilo to a small number of restaurants on standing order. New trade relationships open in March.

Open a trade enquiry