Spice Channel

Salt: In ancient times, spread by armies on conquered cities to curse the vanquished. In modern times, spread by Sony Pictures to similar effect.

Here to snatch salt’s reputation from the otherwise-admirable jaws of Angelina Jolie: Jacobsen, Oregon’s first artisanal salts since the days of Lewis and Clark, available online now.

A pro-grade salt used by several Michelin-starred restaurants, Jacobsen’s the eponymous passion project of an amusingly enthusiastic “salt hobbyist” who extracts the spice from oyster beds within Oregon’s Netarts Bay — an area so difficult to farm it had gone unharvested for over a century.

Jacobsen’s obsession has yielded grand results — large salt crystals that resemble shards of shaved ice, featuring a taste that’s slightly briny but with little lingering bitterness.

Texture-wise, the salts crunch between fingertips. As a seasoning, its flavor crackles on potatoes, french fries, broiled fish, chicken and vegetables.

Jacobsen just successfully raised Kickstarter funds to build Oregon’s first salt harvesting facility since 1806 — a project that literally makes Jacobsen worth his salt.