Going back hundreds of years, salt harvests from the picturesque Xwejni area in Gozo are drawing to a close this year.

Alfred Attard, a man who has been involved in this laborious tradition for over 45 years, explained to Times of Malta how it takes roughly two weeks of careful work to ensure the salt dries properly.

“I used to help my father-in-law with this work and kept on doing it myself. The salt harvest usually begins in March,” he explained.

The tradition has been kept alive in this fashion, passed on from one generation to the next.

Alfred is no exception, pointing out that it has been in his family for at least 200 years.

“This is how we normally do it; first, we have to find pebbles and arrange them properly,” he said, referring to the lining of the salt pans closest to the coastline. The pebbles help keep the source water in place as it dries.

Attard is here seen sweeping the salt to collect it in buckets, which he then takes to a nearby cave where the salt is left to dry out.

Obtaining salt in this method requires a balance of moisture and dryness

“When the salt pans are ready, the seawater is poured out and left there for seven days where it ‘cooks’ in the sun,” he continued.

Obtaining salt through this method requires a balance of moisture and dryness to make sure that the precious product does not get stuck to the rocks where it is being dried. Eventually, after almost two weeks’ worth of monitoring, the salt almost dries out, after which the salt is swept into a pile in the centre.

“We then start picking it up in buckets and carrying it to a cave,” he said, referring to small caves right in the cliffside of Xwejni. The salt is then left to dry as water slowly drips out of it.

Although there are fears of the tradition being lost, there is renewed interest in the promotion and sale of traditionally-harvested salt as an artisanal product.

The practice owes its origins in the natural formations of Għadira Bay in Mellieħa as well as in what was known as ‘il-Mellieħa taż-Żonqor’, predating the Knights of St John.

The production and harvesting of salt using salt pans was intensified under the knights’ watch. The tradition continues to thrive in several areas in Malta as well, most particularly at the eponymous Salini area in Buġibba.

An aerial view of the Xwejni salt pans in Gozo.

The end product: artisanal salt ready to be sold.