Smoky flavours
Smokebox Salts is a start-up company that supplies home cooks and professional chefs with tasty, high-quality mixes of wood-smoked salts and blends. Founder Jonathan Storm uses a cold smoke generator to feed a gentle draw of wood smoke over premium Pink Himalayan rock salt. After 3 to 6 hours, depending on the flavour intensity desired, the dry salt has absorbed the humid smoke. The salt is then dried at a very low heat, locking in the smoke flavour and colour. Jonathan's business plan won the Petridish Brass Tacks Award in the 2020 Audacious business showcase.
Meanwhile Jonathan was also investigating how to produce liquid smoke for bottling. As part of his Mechanical Engineering Diploma studies Jonathan designed and built a prototype liquid smoke dispenser. The water drizzles down the cylindrical condenser meeting the smoke rising up from the cold smoke generator. Two to three drops of the resulting concentrate will go a long way in cooking.
As his own customer for the project Jonathan set himself eight objectives. The prototype is easy to disassemble and clean, so that he can do short product runs with different kinds of wood. The whole thing packs down inside the largest component for easy storage. Two short trial runs with the prototype have been successful, and meeting the final two objectives depends on further testing. Jonathan has also identified options for further development.