A N.J. woman is making gourmet sea salt with water from the Jersey Shore

The Jersey Shore is a hub for all things summer — New Jerseyans flock to the beach and lively boardwalks as the salty scent of the ocean fills the air.

For Danielle Hickson, that salt isn’t just part of the sunny scenery. It’s her main ingredient. The Monmouth County native runs a small-batch business transforming seawater from the shores of Asbury Park into pure gourmet salt.

After quitting her full-time job with Hackensack Meridian Health to pursue a part-time music career in January 2024, Hickson began experimenting with sea salt. Just three months later, she launched Asbury Park Sea Salt and debuted at Bell Works’ Fresh Farmer’s Market in Holmdel.

“I’ve always loved working with my hands, so I knew I had to start a product-based business,” Hickson told NJ Advance Media. “I make spices and sauces at home, so I was toying with that idea, but it just wasn’t feeling right. And all of a sudden, I had the idea of sea salt.”

Sea salt is produced through the natural evaporation of seawater, typically harvested from salt ponds or coastal areas. Unlike table salt, it often retains trace minerals like magnesium, calcium, and potassium which can affect its flavor and color.

It is commonly used in cooking, baking and as a finishing salt due to its coarse texture and clean, briny taste. It’s also popular in skincare and wellness products for its exfoliating and mineral-rich properties.

Some of the best sea salt in the world comes from places like Maldon, England, Hawaii and France. Why not the Jersey Shore?

For Hickson, the pull of Asbury Park ran deeper than the tides, and it was her connection to the oceanfront that truly crystallized the idea.

“The Asbury Park ocean is where I went when I decided to quit my nine-to-five,” Hickson said. “It’s where I wrote songs and journaled.”

Hickson says the books and videos she learned from didn’t tell people exactly how to make sea salt. So she tweaked and tested until she developed a method that worked in her own kitchen.

“Everyone is very secretive about their sea salt process,” Hickson said. “I would watch YouTube videos of other salteries and look in the background to see what equipment they had.”

Her own process begins with harvesting the water. Each week, Hickson wades waist-deep into the Atlantic at Asbury Park’s 6th Avenue Beach and collects about 40 gallons of seawater.

And thanks to her New Jersey Cottage Food Operator’s Permit (which allows certain homemade foods to be sold directly to consumers) the rest of the process can be done at her residence.

First, Hickson tests the water for metals — a crucial step. She hasn’t yet encountered contamination in her year-and-a-half of making salt. But if metals are detected, she tosses the entire batch.

She then filters the water twice. It first passes through a cheesecloth to catch larger particles of sand and algae. Then she runs it through a 0.1-micron filter — which removes much finer impurities.

Hickson notes many other salteries skip this step entirely or only filter their water once. But for her, the extra effort is essential.

“It looks like a glass of water that you can drink once it goes through the filter,” Hickson said.

After filtration, Hickson boils the seawater on the stove or in Instant Pots — a process that can take more than 12 hours. After that, she filters the concentrated brine one final time.

She then pours the salty solution into a shallow evaporation pan, where it slowly evaporates and crystallizes over three to four days.

”It’s really beautiful to watch the salt crystals actually form on the top of the water. They look like snowflakes, and then they fall down to the bottom,“ Hickson said. ”It looks like it’s snowing in the pan."

Finally, she scoops out the salt and lets it dehydrate for a day before using a sieve to separate the delicate flakes from the coarser kosher salt.

The salt contains no additives or anti-caking agents, unlike many sea salts on the market that include extra ingredients which can alter both flavor and quality.

Even the slightest pinch of it has a bold, salty flavor. A little bit of this Asbury Park sea salt goes a long way.

“ I love when I’m at a market and some locals taste my sea salt and they’re like, ‘I feel like I’ve tasted this before,’” Hickson said. “And they have, because they’ve been swimming in this ocean. It’s nostalgic.”

Right now, the salt comes in either kosher or flake sea salt but Hickson has plans to expand to flavored salts.

Asbury Park Sea Salt is currently sold exclusively in Monmouth County by delivery or at local markets in the state. However, Hickson plans to operate commercially in April 2026 – with the ability to ship nationally.

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Lauren Musni may be reached atlmusni@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @Laurengmusniand onInstagram. Find NJ.com on Facebook.