While working in Hermosillo, Mexico, Valley resident Brian Pierce noticed the food he was eating tasted different, better somehow. After someone suggested that salt from the nearby Sea of Cortez might be the reason, Pierce saw a business opportunity: import great-tasting sea salt from Mexican salt farmers to the United States and market the product to restaurants and hotels. Pierce, who has an extensive hospitality background, partnered with entrepreneur Kelly Egan and the duo recently launched True Salt, an all-natural, unrefined and unprocessed sea salt available in three grains – fine, kosher and coarse.
Most of True Salt’s business is commercial, but Pierce makes a case that everyone should ditch refined salt. “Table salt is essentially a chemical. There’s nothing in it that’s healthy for you. We don’t bleach our salt and we don’t cut it with chemicals.” True Salt is hand-harvested from seawater, dried and then rewashed with fresh seawater to cleanse impurities. Valley chefs at numerous restaurants, including Mora Italian and Tarbell’s, use True Salt and find that the all-natural product enhances their cooking, Pierce says. But True Salt is not just for professional chefs. Home cooks and cocktail enthusiasts can purchase the salt online. “You’ll fall in love with it and won’t want to use anything else. It’s just so much better.”
