Upon showing up to a five-star resort, like the Four Seasons Resort and Residences Anguilla, it’s tough to think of stepping foot off the residential or commercial property (until it’s time for your return flight home, obviously). If performed well, the entire experience is so intoxicating– with the sights, fragrances, and service– that the thought of losing out on one second of your trip is almost abstruse. Yet on Anguilla, as well as other Caribbean islands, there’s so much more to see and do to comprehend the breadth of the destination’s history, culture, and distinct appeal.
Emmanuel Calderon, the executive chef at the Four Seasons Resort and Residences Anguilla, comprehends the predicament these two clashing concepts create, and he’s actively working to make sure visitors get a holistic overview of the island with the Taste of Anguilla program.
Salt harvesting in Anguilla has an intricate past– one that began with the arrival of Europeans in the 1600s, continued with the labor of enslaved Africans, and came to a halt, for the a lot of part, as the tourism industry began to prosper on the island in the 1980s. For an amount of time, Anguilla was one of the world’s leading exporters of salt; today, it stays an integral part of the island’s identity, one that guests of the Four Seasons can access with Calderon.
Expect an early morning wake-up call as you make your method out to Road Salt Pond, a 100-plus-acre lagoon in Anguilla’s Sandy Ground district. It’s here where guests– who are cautioned to come in water shoes and armed with sun defense– get a salt-picking and history lesson from Anguilla residents.
Gloves are offered as you wade into the waters, feeling the ground for a considerable portion of salt to pull from the pond. “It becomes a bit competitive and … the reward is actually pleasing when you have the ability to take the most significant piece of salt out of the water,” he said. “You can see the best balanced pieces and the clear salt that seems more like a diamond than salt itself.”.
As the very first part of the experience concludes, Calderon brings visitors– who entrust to their own bag of salt– to Vinty’s Garden, a local vendor that supplies produce to SALT, for a conventional Anguilla breakfast. There’s likewise the alternative to continue the day back at the resort, with Calderon demonstrating how to fillet fish and make ceviche, which is seasoned with, you thought it, regional salt.
” Besides lots of salt,” he said, Calderon hopes guests take from the day a more informed perspective on Anguilla. “They will get to experience another part of Anguilla that does not get much attention, develop a deeper connection with the culture, and learn more about a few of the history of the home of some of the most authentic individuals and, naturally, incredible cooks that I ever dealt with.”.
While the ponds produce salt through the year, Calderon states the very best months for collecting are the “hottest and dry months” as the “level of the water is low and the salinity of the water is higher.” To start the Taste of Anguilla experience, book your journey in between the last week of May and the first 2 weeks of August.
If you can’t wait up until then for the blue-green waters, seafood, cushioned lounge chairs, and five-star tranquility of the Four Seasons, that’s OK, too. As far as culinary programs, Calderon and his group continue to evolve the resort’s offerings. “We are currently adding more products to our garden and preparing for … brand-new and exciting culinary pop-ups celebrating the bounties and the culture of the island,” he said.