La Cuna de la Sal: La Historia Detrás de la Sal Artesanal del Valle de Tehuacán, Puebla.

La Cuna de la Sal: La Historia Detrás de la Sal Artesanal del Valle de Tehuacán, Puebla.

In the south of the state of Puebla, in the middle of ravines where salt water springs emerge, there are archaeological remains that attest to water control works, terrace dams and ancient wells that show the production of artisanal chambers for thousands of years. These salt flats are far from the sea

In a semi-desert mountainous area belonging to the Tehuacán-Cuicatlán Biosphere Reserve. Here there are large deposits of salt under the surface of the mountains , remnants of an ancient sea from the Cretaceous period . The rains wash away the minerals that the producers from Zapotitlán Salinas take advantage, the water saturated with salt

Is captured by the salt farmers and in the old terraces the salt from the Tehuacán Valley is produced by evaporation . Las Salinas is located just over an hour from the city of Tehuacán, so we left early to head to the nature reserve.

To think about salt is to go back to the sea. In the imagination, salt comes from the ocean and is produced in places near the sea, perhaps that is why it is so surprising to see the terraces of Las Salinas las Chiquitas among the mountains in a semi-arid area .

For 2,000 years, the Ngiwa or Popoloca culture knew about the richness of salt in their territory, so to understand how salt exists in a semi-desert so far from the sea, we undertook a walk through the ravines that surround the salt flat. We are located in the municipality of Zapotitlán Salinas,

Which is in the Tehuacán Biosphere Reserve, Puebla. Salinas, what does it sound like? They have natural salt deposits that come from generation to generation since the time with the Popolocas they worked salt. We are going to know the story of Juan Diego, now we are in a ravine,

He spent half an hour or 40 minutes walking from the town to work every day. We walked like this every day from the town to here, if we had time we would stop by to cut some flowers to eat at home or some agave flowers to cook here in the salt flats

All year round there is something, if there are no cactus flowers, there are agave flowers, if there are no insects What a spectacle, I can imagine walking every day accompanied by these monumental cacti, this land that has been carved by water over time. This ravine that is formed

Not far away, 1km or so away , and water always passes through here in the rainy season and that is what has been eroding, here are those vestiges, those geological evidence that we find here in the earth, in the stones. the mollusks like the corals that are seen with that color.

The geological history of the rocks demonstrates that the region of Zapotitlán, San Juan Raya was an area close to the coast, covered by shallow marine waters, the presence of abundant coral fossils confirms this. Apart from the minerals, which is how white this grayish part looks , dark gray,

That is rock or sedimentary earth, that is part of what was inside the water and that is why it is that color, among all those colorations we are going to find fossils that some were trapped , turritelas, snails, shells, even ammonites that are like shrimp coiled up like this,

So that speaks of how the earth has evolved in this part of Mexico and that evidence is stored there, geological eras of 100 million years, 200 million years, 300 million years and until today. We do not see this magical place until we touch it and until it is explained.

Supplied in the rainy season, the underground currents descend from north to south through the elevations of the Zapotitlán mountain range and are the ones that spring up in the springs with high salt content, The salinity of the water is the result of the filtration and dissolution of ancient seabed deposits.

What is this we found on the ground? Evidence from the sea, a rock that has a grayish color has white crystals, it is the formation of white onyx and is formed by one of the minerals that is derived from calcium carbonate salt

, the salt water that passes through different strata of the earth At some point it begins to leave layers and layers until it becomes a dense rock, a bank, but millions of years have to pass. Oh how beautiful they just found a fossil we think is a sponge

And at the same time it has minerals at the base, it is super pretty. Look, they are fossils, right? They are mussels. Can you see? Yes, oysters, it’s very full. See what Juan Diego says, he is absolutely right, here we find mussels , which are the oysters that we eat, they are fossilized,

How does the fossilization process happen? The organism dies and all the minerals replace the organic matter and it becomes like a kind of scanner like a kind of x-ray over thousands and millions of years, it is incredible. If it were not for this archaic shallow sea as old as the dinosaurs,

Today the geology of Zapotitlán Salinas would be completely different and its artisanal salt would simply not exist. The minerals that are here are practically like rocks , but they are minerals that were trapped and if we taste the earth it is salty, yes, everything that the sea left millions of years ago

Is stored there and it is part of nature that still persists here. . Can we try it? Yes And do you eat it? Yes, when we don’t give the goats salt they eat dirt, it’s because they need minerals. It’s salty, it’s rich. It’s very salty. He says that we can taste the earth

And we will find the taste of salt. All this is sediment from the ocean that was uplifted millions of years ago. You can even see here that it is white, it is the concentrated salt. Yes, it is quite concentrated, the taste of salt is very noticeable, but it also tastes like earth,

So let’s put the defenses to the test. Yes it is very roomy. How delicious it tastes like fried potatoes with salt. Juan Diego, how old are you now? Now I am 43 years old. 43 years. And from what age did you start walking these ravines to get to your work?

About 5 years, maybe 7 years at most, time passes and well, here we are, and here we have been walking since then because my father was already beginning to instill in me the work that his father, who is my grandfather, had inherited from him, because there were no cars.

And no money to be able to pay for a bus or a car to bring us here, we had to walk from the town , which is approximately 3 or 4 km along all these ravines and roads to be here working in the salt flats, mom prepared tacos for us,

Bean tacos and heating them over the embers and toasting them is a delight, cactus flowers can be cooked, roasted, if we were lucky at some point we could have a piece of meat, eating in the countryside is part of the stories of what remains in my mind still since I was little.

The wealth of this land was disputed since ancient times, the Mexicas imposed taxes on salt products to the Ngiwas of Zapotitlán and production was also intensified by the appearance of an extensive system of regional markets that brought salt to the confines of the world. Aztec empire.

He is showing us how we can identify mica in the earth just turn around and the reflection of the sun It makes several points shine throughout the entire earth and that is the mica and it is very easy to identify . And what is the mica for?

Mica can be combined with natural pigments and is used a lot, especially in processes for restoration, construction and for the clay, the ceramics that we have known, if the clay is mixed with this mica then it becomes much more resistant and they are the porcelains that we know and that we can use.

Here you will find a large amount of that mica that shines like crystals. Do people here know that they live in such a rich area? I think that we are not able to assimilate it, we have to go deeper to know the wealth that we have in our area, on earth,

Because many times semi-arid, semi-desert places are richer in everything, in minerals, in plants, in diversity. that the same forests, that the same jungles and that we can at the time take advantage of it. After following Juan Diego through the ravines we arrived at the ancestral terraces. Zapotitlán salt is unique

Because it is made in one of the few living archaeological sites that can be found in Mexico, where what endures are not only the ancient lime and stone terraces but production knowledge from ancient times that has brought the views of archaeologists and ethnographers. This salt from Zapotitlán is a salt

With very special properties, one that has been confined for millions of years in the subsoil that was produced in the Cretaceous period, where the seas were free of pesticides, heavy metals, microplastics, Today, unfortunately, the sea is the sewer of planet Earth. This salt has been preserved for you for millions of years.

All the chemical elements that exist on planet Earth are dissolved in seawater, from gold to potassium. , magnesium and many of these elements are the basis for human nutrition. Salt is an essential element to maintain human life, it is involved in an infinite number of biochemical processes that allow our metabolism

To function correctly, unlike the table salts that we usually consume , this salt is low in sodium and contains other minerals, these characteristics make it an excellent alternative for people who suffer from diseases such as high blood pressure, it is also important not to malign salt if its excessive consumption

Predisposes you to suffer from many diseases but at the same time if you limit yourself too much it will affect your state of health. Health is a very important balance that we must maintain. It was very pleasant to try it, Juan Diego brought me a bag

Simply so that I could see the crystallization of the salt in its final stage ready to be sold, I didn’t realize that I had been eating it for a long time as if it were peanuts, as if it were a snack and fortunately I don’t worry too much about that

Because unlike commercial salts that are basically sodium chloride, this salt is very low in sodium and is reduced to leave room for a lot of minerals that we need to hydrate ourselves. Juan Diego tells us the story of this project called Salinas las Chiquitas,

Those terraces belong to his family and they have seen it grow. Here they are called Salinas las Chiquitas, we work in the production of salt, an ancient job, we are around 6 producers or 6 owners, the majority are from grandparents, great-grandparents, great-great-grandparents and they have been inherited from generations to generations,

The work is a lot and it is very expensive to repair this structure and even more expensive build a wall, a… what we call them, which are the stones that are stopping those terraces , they are levels in a staggered way like a pyramidal shape,

We continue to do it all manually, by hand, no chemicals are added, they are just totally virgin minerals that were left here When this was still the sea, more than 100 million years ago, it was still in the water and at some point the tectonic plates collide,

It emerges, it rises and today we are at 1500 meters above sea level and that is where the origin of the salt we work with comes from. Here in our community, these minerals are trapped in the mountains every year when the rain falls, it washes them away

And reaches the springs or wells of salt water where from there we are going to obtain this brine , which is also known as that, salt water that involves a process of vaporization with the sun and working on it little by little. The production of salt in Zapotitlán has evolved over time ,

However it has not changed considerably for 4 centuries. What remains firm about salt is its artisanal character based on the constant work of the salt maker. The results are more natural and far from being on par with the large salt producing companies. From archaeological evidence

It is known that salt has been produced here for at least 2,200 years and in the evolution of this type of production it is known that pots on fire first began to be used to boil that water and obtain salt, hundreds of years ago. Later, another type of small evaporation terraces,

Somewhat elliptical, of greater depth than the current ones, began and these terraces are a mixed type, so to speak. When the Spanish arrived, they taught this type of salt production design and in that way it is As we currently have this type of salt flats, in the Basque Country

There is a type of salt flats very similar to this. Well, this work is not from now , it is more than 2,000 years old, here in the upper part we are going to find the archaeological zone , there is a staircase, a ball game, tombs,

The first nomadic settlers who arrived at this place today were located there. It is better known as Ngiwas or Popolocas and they found a very privileged place to be able to stay here, where they began to work with ceramics, collecting what they found in the place to be able to consume

Medicinal plants, which is to take advantage of the flowers and fruits, insects, seasonal worms, and throughout this eastern part of the community we have what are the salt flats where we find the springs of salt water and the salt gave them great power, an impressive potential,

Which became worth as such the white gold that they That’s where the name salary comes from, from salt, a way of paying at that time, they worked a lot on the same ceramics , the clay pots that they put on fire full of salt water to extract the salt by breaking the containers,

That whole story how The process changed until we reached this technique of evaporation with the sun, this current process but still it has its centuries because thank God it is persisting and it is there, because we as people of the community try to conserve it,

We try to endure this work that are not easy and that takes a whole process of generations, history and culture. We did this tour to the cradle of salt in Mesoamerica with the best guides in the Tehuacán Valley: the Biofán team who organize excursions to sites in the biosphere reserve. We specialize

In these tours in the biosphere reserve, we are in love with this area with the cactus forests, the elephant foot forests, the salt flats, the ceramic production of Los Reyes Metzontla, the green macaw nesting center, the archaeological zones, we have a team of the best expert guides in the areas of botany, archeology,

The Valley Tehuacán – Cuicatlán is a mixed heritage site of humanity. There are only 39 places in the world that are mixed heritage sites of humanity and our team hopes to live up to this wonderful and majestic site that is the Tehuacán Valley. José Martín really 10 out of 10

Is a very cultured person, a person who loves his land of Tehuacán and he really gets involved with the stories of the locals and you working with them have helped them so congratulations and Biofan, what does Biofan mean? Good bio fan and lover of life but let’s remember that Biofan was created

To support our social projects, we work with schools, with communities, we have a capacity development program where we have sent 12 young people from these communities to Japan for a year and We are the chapter of a Japanese organization that today is called OISCA, the most important NGO in environmental education in Japan,

So nature tourism helps us articulate, be able to spread this natural wealth, this cultural wealth, empower communities to feel more proud. of their past, their present and with a lot of hope for the future. That’s how it is. Because a place like these is a place with a great future,

Where there is life, there is hope and here there is life, biodiversity, culture, remember one of the few mixed heritage sites of humanity on planet Earth. And congratulations because you have taken not only many Mexicans but also foreigners and very important people to get to know the Tehuacán Valley.

Thanks to you Jorge de León and your team, they are very professional and we are very happy that they can promote these riches, you have friends here, you have a home, so welcome forever. And a lot of work, we are going to return because there are so many things to do,

So many things to see and they can show it. See how interesting I had never been in a place like this and we are going to learn how the salt extraction process is done naturally as the Mesoamerican ancestors did. It’s time to follow Juan Diego’s daily journey to produce salt

Just as his ancestors did. The process begins by removing the water from the wells and depositing it in the containers with the pots further back, which were ceramic pot containers. Juan Diego needs to fetch water from the spring essential for the functioning of the salt mines.

Salt throughout the world is a heritage resource that since ancient times has fulfilled important tasks for social groups, it is traditional medicine , it is a preservative and condiment in gastronomy and also a currency of exchange in the trade of native peoples. In the Mesoamerican worldview, salt is more than a culinary ingredient,

It is a magical and precious product that concentrates past inheritances. They believed that salt was residue from the bodies of those who left this world and the gods. So here this is one of the springs where the water from the earth is born , dragging the minerals that remained in the mountain

Of the sea that existed. These wells are more than 2,000 years old to start working the salt, they had to have made these wells, look for the water, so they are older springs older than the structure itself. The water is going to be taken to take it to the paintings,

They were jugs, which was like that with sticks with ixtle ropes, They paid people to come to load them and fill the containers , some called them cienteros, they had to make 100 trips to get a payment in one day, 100 trips of these 20 liter cans at least

Because barefoot people who didn’t exist before either. boots in recent years because we also use a gasoline pump where the water is taken from here and the containers are quickly filled there, to this day some still continue to take it out with canisters, those who do not have a pump are more tiring,

Later Well, they were looking for technical forms of evaporation like what we are going to see there in the work of the paintings because it is still done naturally in the sun’s rays. These are seasonal springs, that is, if this year it rains enough , next year they will have

Enough water to produce salt, if it is a year with drought they will need water for next year, it is a paradox because just as they need rain when there is too much rain and it is not the rainy season because the salt dissolves from so much work they have done,

It takes 1 to 2 months to harvest the salt on a terrace. There is a big difference between industrial salt and our salt, as they extract large quantities, tons with machinery , and ours is always by hand, always thanks to nature, the sun, the climate, the cold.

I would like it not to continue declining, we have to go against the current , for example this past year there was less water that fell in the mountains and there were two months of water delay, the water levels have dropped, there is not enough for the paintings and to produce salt.

The Tehuacán Valley is now in its 7th month of drought , that is, it has been 7 months without heavy rain. As a biologist, I was quite excited to be able to find fauna, to find reptiles, desert amphibians, but my hopes fell a little

With this that it had not rained in so long, water in good quantity is an essential resource so that all this can flourish , that all the arthropods come out, that all the reptiles come out, when there are so many months without water the vegetation is mostly dry all these animals are sheltered

And they are lowering their metabolism so their activity is practically zero, but now a moment ago we saw that the clouds began to arrive, the drops began to fall and now I have a little hope about what we can find in summary it is necessary just This is so that

All this incredible amount of life that the Tehuacán Valley boasts begins to emerge . Unfortunately, the clouds quickly disappeared due to the wind and the long-awaited precipitation would continue to be awaited with the same thirst in the Tehuacán Valley. It is cold water, it is not hot as such,

And since it is a good amount, it does not heat up. The one that does heat up is the one in the containers. If you are barefoot or put your hands in, it burns you because of the heat it grabs. It absorbs the same salt and crystals and is exposed to the sun

Because they are 10, 12cm containers , so the water does get very hot there if it is strong. You have to be strong and get used to this work, which is still practically manual to get to where the containers are. Juan Diego proceeds to empty the salt water to the evaporation terraces.

The flowering of the Zapotitlán Salt Flats is closely linked to the natural phenomena of concentration, saturation and evaporation of salt water in containers or paintings. Here it would be deposited here in the containers for… concentrate the water more, the salt is in the water,

If we taste the water here we feel the saltiness, the same with the earth, the earth that we tasted a while ago because we feel the saltiness here are the minerals here is the salt in the water that has already been filtered between the mountains, by touching it we feel the minerals here,

We already know that the water is salty or that it needs more concentration to be able to begin the washing process. Trusting Juan Diego we are going to test the water. It’s very salty, it has a crustacean flavor too. Up to this degree of concentration there is still life,

I don’t know if you can notice that there are little animals there, we know them as brine shrimp and it is a small crustacean that is like a little shrimp that lives there, they are from salt water but up to a certain degree of concentration when it is already saltier water they die,

When we add fresh water or lighter water again they are born again because the eggs remain there so they are there all the time with the naked eye there is no life but there are an infinite number of microorganisms some that cannot even be seen Sometimes,

It is part of nature but at the same time they help the water to oxygenate faster and evaporate, concentrate and become saltier, they are practically working for me. Artemia salina is a crustacean that is rich in carotenoids and is very important for many organisms , one of them is the flamingo.

This species of crustacean is what gives color to the feathers of flamingos. The feather of flamingos is white but when ingested These crustaceans with meta carotenes are how they acquire those beautiful colors. So here there is a very interesting succession of microorganisms. When the water has less concentration of salts

And there is a succession of even microalgae, sometimes we will have green, red, orange water. There comes a time. in which the concentration is so high that it dies , let us remember that salt is a food preservative precisely because by osmosis it dries out the microorganisms, removing the water in their tissues.

If you can see in the salt mine there are many colors red, yellow, green… it indicates concentrations of minerals, not all wells are the same in concentration, at some point we are going to obtain a colored salt that is like red, orange or pink, that’s why You can see those colors

And that colored salt will come out. It is not because the water is dirty, that it is contaminated, that it is stagnant , but because iron is one of the things that gives it the most color among the many microorganisms that are there, here. We are going to find yellow and pink salts

And in general white salt. And how much salt can a painting like this generate? A frame like this averages between 70 to 80 kilos. Wow very much. It is a good amount of food salt and livestock salt because we take out both types of salt, it is like 150 kilos of salt

That we take out of a box like this but for that we already have 2 thousand to 3 thousand liters of water that is what we take to obtain 150 kilos, since these containers are full then we have to wait for 50% to evaporate and to evaporate and concentrate

By filling and evaporating that water so that it reaches those degrees of concentration that we need. Here two types of salt are produced : for human consumption and for animal consumption. For human consumption , we can have even the flower of salt, the first salt that crystallizes. These differences in the crystallization time

Are a difference in the content of salt. minerals and that is why this salt is used in cooking to maintain the green color of cactus and broccoli. where they will be richer in chlorides, potassium chloride, magnesium chloride, magnesium sulfate, there is iron, there is sulfur,

It is a salt with a large amount of minerals. I believe that if a person grabs a pinch of regular salt, one of those that is sold in the market, that industrial salt and the test was probably a grimace with the reaction of the strong flavor it has,

But in the case of this salt they look like flakes of snow and not only soft in terms of its texture, which is also quite soft, but in terms of flavor , that is, all the good flavor of salt is preserved without having that excess flavor.

Definitely, if I had to consume a type of salt, I would opt for a to make sure it was generated this way. After emptying the water on the evaporation terraces, the sun’s rays will begin to evaporate the salt water, the heat of the semi-desert and the engineering of the terrace

Create the perfect formula to achieve it. These works have quite an art because below the floor that can be seen there is a stone bed, it acts as an oven when the sun is radiant during the day it penetrates the heat, it keeps heat and in the evening it continues to heat up

For that purpose. It is this stone that has kiln lime underneath, we know it as stones that were melted at 1,500 degrees for several days with fire and glue this entire structure like the archaeological zones, that was what they used, it could take between 70 to 100 years for They were destroyed,

So that the water would begin to filter and a painting like this very few people today know how to make, a material that is for a lifetime. If any of you want to visit this place, they offer guided tours at the Salinera las Chiquitas, it is only 25km from Tehuacán.

Juan Diego is also telling us that he can send his salt to different parts of Mexico and it is better to consume this type of artisanal salt. to consume an industrial salt, so now you know if you want to support these workers who for centuries have been dedicated to taking advantage

Of the salt from the minerals of the Tehuacán Valley. We invite you to come and learn about the salt process, the history, even go into collecting salts to feel what the work is like to come into contact with nature, collecting salt is quite an experience, well, also come to buy the salt

We are already sending it by parcel anywhere you can contact us there we are on Facebook, Instagram and YouTube: Juan Diego Hernández Cortés for any help you need, to learn more about the place. We have to clean all the paintings so that all that sediment, those impurities do not remain in the salt,

So they all have to be washed, the sediment is removed, in the end one goes to take it out there. I am going to send the sediment to the bottom, this is done for two or three days depending on the concentration of the sediment and then I can remove the water.

Here they have already been filled about 3 times or even 4 times the filling, evaporated, filled, evaporated between 15 to 20 days or a little more so that it reaches the degree of concentration that we need, we have to remove all the water, we have to wash With the broom,

You have to move the water from one square to the other, filtered in a certain way because it will not be clear, it will be filtered but it will still be colored, yes, because with this water , yellow salt will come out, like a cream color. , Gray.

We have to move all the water from this rectangle to the other so that we can filter it. Personally, it has been very interesting for me to see at the field level what this incredible salt making process looks like step by step I think that salt is one of those things that

Is so ubiquitous so universal and so common in all of our lives that it goes unnoticed because it is present all the time, it also makes me think about how many anecdotes, how many legacies, how many stories there are behind the pepper we consume, the vegetables we consume and not only food

But all of these as raw materials of production. A lifetime working in salt has created indelible anecdotes in Juan Diego’s memory. I came to work with my dad and help him , but at the time, as I was a child, I also got tired of being there in the salt mines

Or shaking the salt and the shadows would rest on me and I would start playing with the earth as if they were roads and another of the memories that remains with me is that there is a tree, a mesquite. At that time, when I was little, I would climb that tree,

It would be about 2m tall, and from there I would jump over the mesquite tree. The tree has remained the same for more. 30 years old, they are plants that have lived here, that due to the little water that falls here are almost always the same size,

Already in the afternoon I told my dad: We’re leaving. And my dad told me: Yes, but until the cricket sings. And then it was later I told him: The cricket is already singing. And he said: Until the biggest cricket sings. The thing was to be working all day

But it was part of the experience of work at the time that I had to live, and we did not return until it was dark, 7 or 8 at night. If there was a moon because there are seasons where it is The full moon , that light, helped us advance

As much as we could so that production would be easier for us the next day. After two or three days of having swept the sediment and taken it to the bottom of the box, we are going to be patient because we have to pass all this water from the box

Into this bag to filter it again so we are going to eliminate the impurities that our salt is going to carry. This way the water will pass through here and all the rubbish it has will stay here. After the washing and filtering has been done

For about 8 days or so at this temperature we will begin to notice that the crystals or minerals begin to join together, which will be a superficial layer here in the painting that is made like a cream, as if it were atole, as if it were ice, if you can see

Here we already have a crystal , this first cream is already being made . In some places they call it fleur de sel, but this is the first crystallization of the purest salt, Once the first crystal is made we are going to pour water on it

So that this crystal can be lowered with the same gourd, water is poured on it, the next day another crystal is made and we lower it again, every day it will make a crystal until There comes a time when there is already a good amount of slabs below

And then they are going to be collected with the spatula. We are already in the stage of collecting the salt, there is a good amount of crystals below and we have to collect it with the spatula. After we have gathered the salt from the painting,

All the salt that was gathered with the spatula forms the mountain of salt and this salt, as it is in slabs, has to be crushed, it has to be granulated, it has to be more or less like this, so there is You have to dance it

Practically as if it were a dance around it until it becomes granulated and then deposit it in the basket. The water is almost boiling today I told them we wear boots but still sometimes barefoot, All we have to do is wash our feet, disinfect ourselves well and get in.

Juan Diego states that in the past salt was ground with bare feet and it is the most traditional way of doing it. It can also have medicinal effects on the skin since it is a natural disinfectant. Since ancient times , salt has been used by the Greeks to combat infections. They used it

As a disinfectant to treat wounds, mouth sores and skin irritations. It feels very hot on the bottom, you can feel the salt crystals that are forming like sheets , but it is very hot, although the truth is that it is very relaxing, it is very good for my feet

, especially after so many days. to be walking around getting to know this wonderful place. We are going to crush it so that it is very granulated so we are going to do the salt dance, we are going to dance to this salt of our ancestors. This salt is an exfoliant

And I want to try it to see what it tastes like. How tiring this is a lot of cardio, I can’t really imagine the great work that Juan Diego does to be able to do this with each of the paintings that we find here in the salt flats, it is impressive.

The grains are already there, they are already crushed, that’s how these grains should look like this. This artisanal way of working here helps you if you are sick, your feet are tired, you have a fever, put your feet in hot water with salt, as hot as possible

, since the water is almost boiling here, I think this is also good. For those of us who are working, because when we put our feet in we always feel that heat that makes that discomfort improve, it has healing properties. It is already granulated

And now we are going to deposit it in the basket or chiquihuite where the draining process will take place, there the humidity is going to come out , there it will be for about 15 days or 20 days, well you have to deposit it, you have to take the salt on the spatula

To put it in the basket, the salt that has already been crushed because this humidity is water that you can see what is going to drain here. We are going to help Juan Diego carry the salt. Super good, it’s not so heavy little by little

But with the sun and I can’t imagine all these pictures. The whole process will take on average two months to a month, when the temperatures are at their maximum heat 45 degrees, 47 degrees, on some day it can reach the temperature 50 degrees but that is what we take advantage of

The heat, the temperature , the cold season is when the slowest process begins, which will take two months and, well, the good temperatures are coming right now for us and we have to be there all day, the more we are there shaking, washing, filtering, exposed to the sun with The cadres

Are going to obtain the product which is a grain salt, a white salt also known as tender salt here for the community. Here everything is used after removing the human salt, the rest is collected for the cattle to consume. See what an interesting thing how they take advantage of the elements of nature,

This was the maguey flower, the maguey gives this flower when it is about to die and now they turned it into this stick with this we are going to file the bottom and remove that salt that They are going to give to the cattle. We are learning many things.

I didn’t know that if you give them salt, the cattle will get prettier and fatter. If you go to Guerrero Negro in Baja California where salt is produced, you will see that the wind and temperature are used there in such a way that it will help the water evaporate sooner.

And the salts can precipitate better here in the Salinas de Zapotitlán , this stick is used, with this stick, when they are passing it by stirring the water, they are breaking the surface tension, by breaking the surface tension they are increasing the vapor pressure and achieving Evaporate the water faster

And the faster you will have the salt. The quiote is the flower of the maguey or agave. It will dry this 100% and we will have some coarse grains of salt. It will be the final product of the process, salt for the cattle, for the cows, for the goats

. Before, it was just a salt that was edible, when the Spanish arrived in this area they taught the people to produce salt for the livestock and this salt has been given to the livestock since then, mainly for the goats, in the area there is a famous mole of hips Tehuacán Huajuapan

And that is because this salt spices the animal, deworms it, makes it fat, gives a different flavor to the meat and if it needs the salt it eats it and if it does not go to the field it eats oregano, it even eats herbs , cactus and when he returns to his corral

He starts to eat salt, because he needs that mineral just as we need salt in our food, so do they. Give me the quiote, I’ll teach you how to use it. I don’t know how to use the maguey stick but hey… You have to get in the water.

Not everything has been easy for the salt workers of Zapotitlán, not receiving a fair payment for their craft room has pushed workers to migrate to the United States, it is estimated that in recent years alone more than 50% of the population have emigrated Juan Diego was one of them. Most of the families

Have had need of one of their relatives , children, siblings, they have emigrated, so in the community at least 1,000 inhabitants have been in the United States. I spent almost 10 years in the United States, three times I went and came back across the border. It

Is very difficult to go through the desert, to cross those mountains there in the northern part of the country and many of us risk our lives there, deserts that are drier than here there are not even cacti of this size but very small, at night we had to walk,

During the day is when the migra sees you as such, so you have to hide between the vegetation what you can put grass and go underneath and be there all day until the sun goes down and it starts to get dark . Walking so that they don’t see you walking through the desert

Is very tiring, it’s hard, three nights walking and three days waiting you run out of water, you run out of what you’re carrying in your backpack, you’re carrying canned beans, canned tuna, flour tortillas, that can save your life so I remember that we carried at least two gallons of water,

We had to drink little so that it would last us throughout that process, that crossing of the desert. There was an event that changed his destiny forever and reconsidered the idea of ​​returning to Mexico. When I was in New York I lived in the center and working in Manhattan, when the Towers happened

And everything that happened at the time was very strong as soon as they opened the airport, well I said well, I’m leaving I prefer that they say: here it ran and it didn’t stay here and then I came to Mexico, I came back and said, well now what am I going to do?

Well, I have to do something here in my community and for 14 years I have been dedicated to the production of salt, I have the vision that this can resurface, it can go very far with the work of all of you who are interested in coming to document the work of us,

Teach them to consume again these products from the countryside that are very good for people and save the work of salt in the process. To finish, Juan Diego packages his artisanal salt and so it is ready to reach the kitchen of each home. If you want to support his project

You can buy his salt when visiting the Salinas las Chiquitas or sending him a message to his phone, he has different types: Salt for meats, with garlic or even chili salt with maguey worm and grasshopper. Salt improves digestion and activates the production of serotonin and melatonin, essential hormones for sleeping well.

Salt also helps maintain the bone system, preventing the loss of water and sodium, one of the main causes of osteoporosis , and if that were not enough , Salt prevents the appearance of cavities. We were able to taste salt from millions of years ago, thinking that is something magnificent,

We visited the biosphere reserve , it was a very special place for me, it is incredible the resources we have here in Mexico, in this case this salt is an excellent alternative to industrial salt, I think this would be a total success all over the world, not just in Mexico,

So without thinking twice I would buy it and take it with me to California. Juan Diego, thank you very much for teaching us your process, for many years as a child you told us how you do it and congratulations, honestly , and like you there are millions of Mexicans

Who have migrated to the United States and have returned because they are in their country and because they want to work in a project in your land, you are doing it and you have a very good vision of carrying it out successfully. The Zapotitlán Salt Flats in the Tehuacán Valley in Puebla

Are a source of pride for Mexico, thanks to all of us, this form of production can continue to exist for many more years.

En el sur del estado de Puebla, en medio de barrancas donde afloran manantiales de agua salada, existen restos arqueológicos que atestiguan obras de control de agua: diques terrazas y antiguos pozos, que muestran la producción de la sal artesanal desde hace miles años.

Estas salinas están lejos del mar, en una zona montañosa semidesértica pertenecientes a la Reserva de la Biosfera de Tehuacán-Cuicatlan.

El agua saturada de sal es captados por los salineros. Y en las antiguas terrazas se produce, por evaporación, la sal del Valle de Tehuacán.

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