At Mount Zero, we're dedicated to regionalism, sustainability and quality across our range – but our Pink Lake Salt is a product that is particularly close to our hearts.
The Lochiel Pink Lake is about 50km up the road from our olive grove, and is fed by natural salt aquifers. Each summer it dries out to reveal a bed of salmon coloured pink salt. Mount Zero and the lake's traditional owners, the Barengi Gadjin Land Council, have been working together for more than a decade to hand harvest a small amount of salt from the lake each year.
It's pure and unadulterated salt – rich in calcium, magnesium, phosphorus, sulphur, iron, manganese, zinc and copper, as well beta carotene, the pigment that develops its lovely pink colour.
The ABC recently spoke to General Manager Rich Seymour as well as Wotjobaluk elder and artist Aunty Nancy Harrison, as part of Hetty McKinnon's The Kitchen Table series for The History Listen. Aunty Nancy's artwork can be found on tables and shelves across the country, wrapping the salt in her distinctive motif. You can listen to the full 28-minute episode on salt in Australia here.
We are committed to working closely with the Barengi Gadjin Land Council into the future, ensuring there are mutual benefits as part of our salt harvest collaboration that spans consultation, employment and payment.
If you're interested in learning more about the history of salt harvesting at the Pink Lake, you can download a digital copy of Salt of the Earth: A History of salt harvesting at the Pink Lake, Lochiel, Victoria by Peter S Evans right here.
With thanks to Hetty, Miyuki and Tim from the ABC for researching and sharing this story of harvest at the Pink Lake!
