Ben Jacobsen, founder of Jacobsen Salt Co. in Portland, Oregon, makes the best salt we’ve tried. He only turned his hobby into a profession in 2011, but already his salt is prefered in Michelin-starred restaurant kitchens across the country. It’s our choice, too, and we’re thrilled to make it the featured ingredient in our Black Garlic-Shoyu Ramen. Just 1/4 teaspoon per serving, sprinkled on each portion to finish, will make the flavors of this dish absolutely pop.
Salt is one of the most important ingredients—yet also perhaps the easiest to overlook. Seasoning to taste as you cook, as well as finishing with a sprinkle of salt, is essential to help any meal you prepare to taste as intended—or even better than expected. Salt is what brings out the natural flavors of any meat or vegetable—but Jacobsen serves this purpose much better than any other salt we’ve tried. It’s all because of Ben’s hands-on process.
Ben saw that America lacked a high-end sea salt to call its own, so he began harvesting seawater from Netarts Bay (a 90-minute drive straight west of Portland), laying the groundwork for a small, local business. Cutting no corners and sparing no expense, he collected, filtered and boiled the seawater, then transferred it to evaporation pans. He then heated it gently, until crystals formed. He drained, dried, sorted and packed the crystals—all by hand. That’s still how every grain of Jacobsen salt is made today, even as the business has grown into a national brand. Only the best grains of salt make the cut and are packaged in a Jacobsen-branded box.
“We’re trying to re-elevate this ingredient,” Ben says. “I love watching people’s reactions when they taste our salt—you can see how much better it is than what they’ve been using all their lives.”
We’re incredibly proud to be partnering with Jacobsen—a company inspiring people to cook, eat and live well—to provide delicious sea salt to our community of chefs across the nation.
If you didn’t select the Black Garlic-Shoyu Ramen, well…you did miss out. But only a little. There’s plenty of Jacobsen salt to go around, so get your own in Blue Apron Market. From the first time you use it, you’ll understand why it’s the only salt we cook with, much less make available to our community of chefs.
