In the beginning there was salt

Salt has been mined in Hallstatt in the Salzkammergut region for over 7000 years. In fact, the Salzkammergut is renowned worldwide as the oldest region with continuous salt production to this very day. 

Whereas, at the very beginning, it was natural springs containing elevated salt levels that drew man and beast to the Salzbergtal, salt has actually been mined here since roughly 1500 BC. So successfully, in fact, that the heyday of early salt mining (800 BC until 400 BC) is even named after the place where it was found – the “Hallstatt Period”. Salt mining looks back on a very turbulent history, since salt didn’t only bring wealth and prosperity, but also competition and even conflict. 

The roots of Salinen Austria as a business likewise go back a long way: America had yet to be discovered when, in 1449, Emperor Frederick III acquired the original ownership rights. To this day, salt from the Alps, from extraction to refinement, continues to be proudly “made in Austria” – though now with modern technology used to produce our ultra-pure evaporated salt.