Bantal

Amongst the many kinds of Balinese sticky cakes, bantal is one of them. This delicious fresh cake is many times used to fill in various oblations of Hindu devotees in Bali. For a temple festival, it seems to have become a ‘compulsory’ cake. Meanwhile, on occasions this bantal cake is also served as light refreshment or snack on social gathering or party accompanied with jajanan pasar or assorted Balinese fresh cakes.
It is made of ketan or white glutinous rice. Half-cooked rice is mixed well with grated coconut, refined sugar and salt and optionally one may add ripe banana or red bean as filler. This batter is then wrapped lengthwise or triangularly. To make it firm, it is fastened with strings and boiled for some 2 hours until well done. Though this cake is tasty, it is advisable to consume it in moderate portions, as it may result in increased body heat. (BTN/029)

"Mine" Salt in Bali

Just a short distance away from Klungkung, including the city of Semarapura, you will find an isolated long stretch of black volcanic sand beach, which sits beneath the shadows of Gunung Agung. It is here that 20 families "mine" GOURMET table salt from the open ocean.

The extraction of pure salt from the sea is a living tradition that goes a long way back. In the older days, there were over 250 small huts on this beach, each belonging to a different family. They all took salt from the sea. In recent times, however, salt production from the island of Java severely cuts into the money these families can earn, while their whole life depends on it. Competition for price, not for quality, hurts badly. However, the twenty families never gave up.
Just recently, this artesian sea salt in its natural and pure form has been "discovered" by International Gourmets connoisseurs and high-end restaurants. This salt is NOW greatly in demand. It is only collected here in Bali!
The salt gathering process is a labor-intensive activity from sunrise to set. Long days, seven days a week, of back straining efforts are necessary. The men go to the sea just beyond the surf line with 2 large leather buckets mounted at the ends of an "ox pole". They stoop to fill the buckets and then stagger back to shore with this heavy load.
The seawater is poured onto prepared beds on the beach of the black sand, which are about 12 inches above the beach level. The water is sloshed onto the sand in a walking/rocking motion, which allows the water to spill out as the worker walks. This continues until the pads of sand are thoroughly saturated. The upper layer of this unique volcanic sand traps the brine and allows the excess water and impurities to filter back to the sea.
Within 3 to 4 hours, the salts have congealed into a "cake" of sand maybe 2 inches thick. This cake of hardened brine is placed into a large wood cask in a small hut near the sand pads.
There, buckets of seawater are added to re-saturate the sand and add more salt to the mixture. The high concentrate of brine water flows through split bamboo tubes at the bottom of the cask into hollowed out cocoanut logs. I tasted this brine. WHEW!!! Salty is not a proper definition.
At about mid day, the collected brine is poured into long elevated wood drying beds. There the sun and constant equatorial temperatures performs the tricks of evaporation of the brine into 2 distinct layers of salt. The top layer is skimmed away carefully, as it is THIS top layer of salt, which is the Gourmet prize. Excess water is evaporated. The remaining fluffy white crystals are ready for the market. The bottom layer of salt is collected and sold as a lower grade for commercial use.
One recent order was for 1,000 kilos for a food chain in the U.SA. On an order this large, the beach families cooperated to fill this order and shared in the profits, depending on amounts of salt provided. Orders via food brokers are now being sent to Hong Kong, Japan, U.S.A. and Western Europe. Expect the demand to increase as a true pure Gourmet salt has been "discovered". It is not that easy to locate in (super) markets, but maybe soon this will happen as well.
If the weather is good, in one day, one family can process up to 1 rice sack of the high-grade salt (about 50 pounds). These families barely live above the basic subsistence levels.
When you display "BALI Fleur de Sel" (c) at your dinners, tell all where and how this salt is produced. My friends will be receiving small bags of "Bali Fleur de Sel" (c) with this story included. "Bali Fleur de Sel" (c) Ready for Your Table. (BTN/Larry McKenna)