Iceland review - 2012, Qupperneq 40

38 ICELAND REVIEW
Virgin Salt MakerS
Fresh out of school, three Icelandic pioneers
have embarked on eco-friendly salt-making
in a rural community in the West Fjords.
Welcome,” smiles salt maker Garðar Stefánsson, as the photographer
and I come to a stop on a narrow gravel road leading along the sea-
shore to a small, unsightly grey building. Tall and slim, he is wearing
a light blue jersey with a picture of Mickey Mouse, in stark contrast
to his fashionable haircut and trimmed beard, which give away his other identity, that
of a smooth businessman. His face reddened, Garðar comments that the relentless
sunny weather does the sensitive skin of a redhead no favors. “But the weather is
always good on Reykjanes,” he states.
Garðar is eager to show us his kingdom, Saltverk Reykjaness, an innovative salt-
works inspired by history. In 2010, Garðar and two other young pioneers, Björn
Steinar Jónsson and Yngvi Eiríksson, decided to revisit a 240-year-old method of
using geothermal heat for processing sea salt. After a year of research, they were
ready to open the saltworks in a defunct salmon farming station on Reykjanes in
the innermost part of Ísafjarðardjúp, the long and deep fjord that almost cuts the
West Fjords in half. “The location was my father-in-law’s idea. He is a historian from
Ísafjörður, and we are here because they used to make salt here in the 17th century.
Originally we wanted to base our saltworks in the vicinity of Reykjavík, but after
visiting Reykjanes, I knew it was the best location for salt-making in all of Iceland, if
By eygló svala arnarsdóttir Photos By PÁll stefÁnsson