border to Spain. Roman ruins near Ria Formosa specifically suggest that there has been a long history of sea salt production here. Before the invention of salt mining, Portugal's sea salt production helped to solidify its place as a world power. However, when mechanical salt mining made salt inexpensive, demand for Portugal's sea salt dropped due to its expense. For centuries flor de sal was scraped away and either discarded or given to workers, as its presence disturbed the evaporation that was creating the sea salt underneath. The process of harvesting flor de sal for sale was reintroduced in 1997 by Necton, with a grant to develop ways to capitalize Portugal's natural resources. Necton's flor de sal is whiter than the fleur de sel from Guérande, and is said to have the more robust flavor of the Atlantic as opposed to Guérande's milder Biscay Bay flavor. Due to Portugal's laws regarding the grading of salt, Necton's flor de sal is exported to France and marketed by companies who also market fleur de sel. Spain also produces high quality flor de sal in the Ebro Delta on the mainland and the Salinas d'Es Trenc on the island of Majorca and in the Salinas de la Trinidad in the Ebro Delta. Majorca has a long history of salt production, dating to the Phoenicians and the Romans, but flor de sel was mostly kept for local use until Katja Wöhr arrived from Switzerland in 2002 and convinced local officials to allow her to harvest it in Es Trenc. She worked with British chef Marc Fosh to develop mixtures of flor de sal with herbs and spice blends added, such as orange, lemon, black olive, lavender, rosemary, dried rose petals, curry spices, and beetroot. Spain's Canary Islands are also a source of flor de sal. Saltworks have operated on La Palma and Lanzarote for centuries, but the flor de sal that resulted was kept for the use of the workers until 2007, when the salt gained gourmet status. The culinary rediscovery of fleur de sel and other gourmet salts has saved small scale artisanal saltworks in the Canaries, which were in rapid decline. Americas Canada now produces high quality fleur de sel from the Pacific Ocean off Vancouver Island. The colder climate adds extra crunch and reduces the flakiness. Unlike traditional European fleur de sel, which crystallizes naturally in the sun, Canadian fleur de