What is Piran salt, and how do you bring it home?

Piran salt is sea salt hand-harvested at the Sečovlje salt pans just south of town, where it has been made the same way for more than 700 years. The prize is fleur de sel (solni cvet, "the flower of salt"), the delicate top layer skimmed by hand. It is one of the best edible souvenirs you can bring home from Piran, and the honest tip, from a maker in the old town, is to pair it with a small handmade dish so the memory outlasts the salt.

What makes Piran salt special?

It is still made by people, not machines. At the Sečovlje Salina Nature Park the salt is grown in shallow basins on a base of "petola", a natural layer that keeps the crystals clean, and gathered by hand in summer. Fleur de sel is the prized, flaky top skim; coarse salt and salt-flower cosmetics come from the same pans.

Which Piran salt should you buy?

Why pair salt with a handmade dish?

Because salt is wonderful, but it gets used up, and then the souvenir is gone. A small ceramic salt dish or pinch pot keeps it on your table for years, and every time you reach for a pinch you are back in Piran for a second. At Nika Horjak Ceramics I make little dishes glazed in the town's own colours; a bag of Piran salt tipped into one is, to me, the most complete souvenir the town offers. Our guide to the best souvenir from Piran puts it in context.

Where do you find them?

You will find Piran salt at market stalls on Tartini Square and in shops around the old town. For the little handmade dish to keep it in, Nika Horjak Ceramics is at Goriška ulica 2, two minutes from the square and a few steps up from the marina. Not in town? The online shop ships worldwide, so a Piran salt dish can travel to you.