Alaea salt is an unrefined Hawaiian sea salt

Sea salt

Sea salt, salt obtained by the evaporation of seawater, is used in cooking and cosmetics. It is historically called bay salt or solar salt...

.  The salt is expensive, and hard to find outside the Hawaiian islands

Hawaiian Islands

The Hawaiian Islands are an archipelago of eight major islands, several atolls, numerous smaller islets, and undersea seamounts in the North Pacific Ocean, extending some 1,500 miles from the island of Hawaii in the south to northernmost Kure Atoll...

. It is, however, readily available through email sources.

Overview

Customarily, Alaea sea salt was used by Hawaiians to cleanse, purify and bless tools, canoes, homes and temples. Alaea is also used in several traditional Hawaiian dishes such as Kalua Pig, Hawaiian Jerky and Poke.

Color

The salt gets its pinkish-brown color from Hawaiian clay, called 'alaea, which is rich in iron oxide

Iron oxide

Iron oxides are chemical compounds composed of iron and oxygen. All together, there are sixteen known iron oxides and oxyhydroxides.Iron oxides and oxide-hydroxides are widespread in nature, play an important role in many geological and biological processes, and are widely utilized by humans, e.g.,...

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Also eaten with salads (and baked potatoes).