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Salt production |
Production season
The salt production season is from March to May every year, and over 50% of salt is produced during this period of time. When rain and typhoons come during June to September, it is also the low season of salt production. Though it rains and there are typhoons during this period of time, pottery shard salt fields can still produce salt in a smaller scale on sunny days, but clay salt fields are all closed.
Forms of salt field
Pottery Shard Salt Fields:
The crystallization pond of a pottery shard salt field is paved with tile debris. The Beimen Jingzaijiao salt fields is an example of tile salt pan.
Clay Salt Fields:
The crystallization pond of a clay salt field is built with clay and sand. The Cigu Salt Marsh is an example of the common salt pan on the soil foundation.
Process of solar salt making
The process of drawing in seawater to crystallization is time consuming and rather complex. It takes about 10 days for salt crystal to grow in a pottery shard salt marsh and about 11-12 days in a clay salt marsh. The four major steps of traditional solar salt making are as follows:
1. Drawing seawater: The water gate is opened to let seawater come about one hour after the high tide every day.
2. Evaporation: The major evaporation pond is divided into 5 plots. The depth of water, the salt concentration of seawater, weather and marsh structure will affect the quality of salt.
3. Crystallization: It takes about 1-3 days for crystals to grow under direct sunlight in the crystallization pond.
4. Yielding: Workers break the salt cake and rake the salt into the salt cage. Then, they carry them to the salt piling area by the rand in front of the crystallization pond.
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Salt piling area |
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Salt piling area |
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Yielding |
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Forms of salt field
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swcoast@swcoast-nsa.gov.tw
