Amagansett does not appear in any encyclopedia entry on sea salt or on any list of places on the planet that produce it. Nor does the evaporation of seawater as an entrepreneurial activity appear in any history of the Hamptons.
Soon however you might find at least a small footnote as a result of a scrappy little company by the name of Amagansett Sea Salt. It would be a stretch to say that there was a latent demand for sea salt from Amagansett, or even that most of us desired another stylishly folksy jar in our cupboards. But the truth is that an enterprising couple needed work and they looked around and where you and I see a lot of recreational ocean, they saw opportunity.
Steven Judelson is a lawyer and real estate developer and his wife Natalie is a lawyer and these are not boom times for either profession. Still, for most rational people, handcrafting salt from seawater does not seem an obvious alternative career. Nor an easy one. The process begins with Steven wading into the ocean beyond the churning surf, where there is less sand and silt, to hand harvest batches of water until he has 100 gallons. The seawater is transported home and filtered, and then placed in shallow tanks to evaporate in the sun and wind until over a period of about three weeks it leaves large crystals. And that is pretty much it. There is no boiling or baking or manipulation. The process, if not the retail price, is virtually the same as it has been for thousands of years.
Amagansett Sea Salt is packaged in one-ounce corked jars and sells for $9 for plain salt and $11 for blends with such things as lemon or lime zest. It’s sold in the East Hampton, Amagansett and Sag Harbor farmers markets or online at amagansettseasalt.com. The Judelsons recommend that it be used a finishing salt on cooked or raw foods. A little manages to go a long way, and it certainly stirs up a good deal of conversation among locavores at the dinner table.