Halen Môn

Halen Môn is the sea salt that put Anglesey on chefs' shelves worldwide — flaky white crystals evaporated from the clean water of the Menai Strait, made by Alison and David Lea-Wilson, who started it almost by accident in 1997 after boiling some strait water on their kitchen stove. What began as a sideline to their sea zoo became a serious business: Halen Môn was the first Welsh product ever awarded Protected Designation of Origin status, the same legal protection as Champagne or Parmesan, which fixes exactly where and how it can be made. You can tour the salthouse at Brynsiencyn and watch the process, then buy the salt — plain, smoked over Welsh oak, or blended — at the source. It turns up on the tables of restaurants that could source salt anywhere and choose this. A family business that made something exceptional out of Anglesey seawater, and stayed on the island to do it.