00:00 (salt thudding)
00:02 Break open this gray sphere,
00:04 and you'll reveal one of India's most popular salts.
00:08 It's called black salt or kala namak.
00:12 Centuries ago, it was used as medicine for digestion.
00:18 Today, the salt is a staple in South Asian cuisine,
00:21 known for its unique eggy and umami taste.
00:25 Workers risk burning their skin
00:27 on a nearly 1,000-degree Celsius kiln
00:31 and spend hours inhaling smoke
00:34 to make it the traditional way.
00:36 But the long and dangerous process
00:40 has pushed people away from the craft.
00:42 Chetak is one of the last factories
00:46 making kala namak this way,
00:48 but it's on the brink of shutting down.
00:52 We went to Lucknow in India
00:56 to see how this black salt is made
00:58 and how, despite the challenges,
01:01 this factory is still standing.
01:03 Even though it's hard to make,
01:08 kala namak is still massively popular
01:11 in South Asian cuisine,
01:13 and it's even finding a home
01:15 in spice blends made in the United States.
01:17 But as workers prepare to cook kala namak,
01:21 they have to fire the kiln
01:23 up to dangerously hot temperatures.
01:26 The high heat damages the kiln over time,
01:29 so they have to rebuild it every year.
01:32 They fill the kiln with cow dung,
01:35 which works as fuel for the fire.
01:38 The Chetak black salt factory
01:40 goes through 5,000 pieces of it every week.
01:43 Workers pour in a layer of coal
01:48 and use burning bicycle tires
01:51 to set everything on fire.
01:55 Sometimes they use diesel,
01:57 but it's more expensive.
01:58 On the other side of the factory,
02:02 workers prepare the parts.
02:03 Shivshankar Prajapati has been making them
02:08 for the factory for the last seven years.
02:11 He learned the tricks of the trade from his father.
02:14 Shivshankar Prajapati: This is our family business.
02:16 My father and my father's family
02:18 have been doing this for a long time.
02:20 We've been doing it since we were 6,000.
02:22 And it's been 70-80 years
02:24 since we've been making kala namak.
02:26 Shiv still uses his family's techniques
02:31 to make the parts completely by hand.
02:34 This potter's wheel relies on the momentum
02:37 from spinning it.
02:39 Shivshankar Prajapati: When we see it,
02:42 we turn it around and look at it.
02:44 Only then will our eyes go to the hole.
02:46 We can't see the hole.
02:48 If we look at it, we can't see it.
02:50 It will come and go.
02:52 Shiv says this step can only be done manually.
02:55 He has to constantly change
02:58 how fast he's spinning the clay
03:00 to get the perfect shape.
03:02 Shivshankar Prajapati: The electronic chucks
03:04 don't do it.
03:06 This wooden tool, called a thappa,
03:10 helps smooth the pot's surface.
03:12 It takes him 18 minutes
03:16 to turn this clump of clay
03:18 into a perfectly round pot.
03:20 Shiv can make 30-35 pots every day.
03:25 Workers add another layer of clay
03:30 to the inside and outside of the pot
03:32 to fill in any cracks
03:34 and then leave it to dry for four hours.
03:37 Each kiln can hold up to 32 pots.
03:40 Workers have to make sure
03:44 that each one is steady
03:46 and heated from all sides.
03:48 So they add pieces of coal and cow dung
03:51 to fill in any gaps.
03:53 The temperature can reach
03:56 up to nearly 1,000 degrees Celsius.
03:58 And smoke from the burning coals and cow dung
04:01 consumes the air as they burn.
04:04 Shivshankar Prajapati: It's hot in the summer,
04:07 so we don't sweat.
04:09 In the summer, we don't stop here.
04:11 We work even then.
04:13 It gets red,
04:16 and then we start again,
04:18 and the work is done.
04:20 When the pots are hot enough,
04:23 workers add three kilograms
04:25 of raw sambhar salt.
04:27 It is found at Sambhar Lake,
04:29 in Karnataka.
04:31 It is found at Sambhar Lake,
04:33 India's largest inland salt lake
04:36 over 670 kilometers away from Lucknow.
04:39 This mixture of finely ground plants and fruits
04:44 is the key ingredient in kala namak.
04:47 It gives the salt its signature black color
04:50 and distinctive flavor.
04:52 Workers have to be careful
04:55 as they pour one kilogram of it
04:57 into each pot.
04:59 The salt water inside the pot
05:01 can cause a storm.
05:03 So if it leaks out,
05:05 people are afraid of falling into it.
05:08 We close the lid.
05:13 We close the lid.
05:15 We check the pot
05:17 to see if the salt is ready.
05:19 If it's not,
05:21 we pour it out.
05:23 After two hours,
05:28 the salt and powder melt together.
05:30 Workers use an iron rod
05:33 to check the salt from a distance
05:35 to avoid getting burned.
05:37 But it's not always foolproof.
05:39 Some employees who live at the factory
05:51 have to deal with the heat all day long.
05:54 All of us are brothers.
05:56 If we like the salt,
05:58 we make it ourselves.
06:00 We eat it and sleep.
06:02 They work through the night,
06:08 tending to the fire
06:10 and adding more salt and powder
06:12 until the pots are filled.
06:14 We have to get up at night
06:17 to hear the sound of the salt.
06:19 Cooking one batch of kala namak
06:23 takes 24 hours.
06:25 At around 3 o'clock in the morning,
06:28 the fire dies out under the pots.
06:31 One pot can weigh up to 35 kilograms.
06:48 Breaking the pots is the only way
06:51 to get to the finished kala namak.
06:53 After letting them cool for an hour,
06:57 workers use hammers to shatter them,
07:00 revealing the finished salt inside.
07:03 At this point,
07:06 the kala namak is still extremely hot.
07:09 So workers cover the balls
07:12 with raw sambhar salt
07:14 to cool them down.
07:17 They break the kala namak
07:19 into smaller pieces.
07:21 Some of it is sold in large chunks.
07:33 The rest is ground into a fine powder.
07:37 Although kala namak appears black
07:40 when removed from the pot,
07:42 the salt crystals look white
07:44 after grinding.
07:46 Chetak makes around 250 packets
07:58 of kala namak a day.
08:01 They take the kala namak home
08:03 and taste it.
08:05 I feel that I'm doing something
08:08 in my own field.
08:10 That's how I'm making a living.
08:13 I've been working with kala namak
08:22 for the past 10 years.
08:25 But now, he's on the brink
08:27 of closing it down.
08:29 Labor shortages and erratic weather
08:32 have been threatening the business lately.
08:34 Ram says fewer people
08:36 want to do this difficult work.
08:38 Even some of his employees
08:48 aren't interested in passing
08:50 the traditional craft down
08:52 to the next generation.
08:54 Demand for kala namak has increased
09:08 in recent years.
09:10 Its unique taste has made it
09:12 a popular ingredient for chefs
09:14 both in India and abroad.
09:16 In 2023, India was the largest
09:20 exporter of black salt
09:22 in the world.
09:24 To meet this increased demand,
09:26 black salt producers have shifted
09:28 from using traditional practices
09:30 to machines.
09:32 But this has left factories
09:34 like Chetak struggling to keep up.
09:36 The factory's location in Lucknow
09:44 has also made it more expensive
09:46 to get the raw materials,
09:48 like sambar salt.
09:50 Ram's team can make kala namak
10:00 this way year-round.
10:02 But another, more recent challenge
10:04 to this tradition
10:06 is unpredictable weather.
10:08 He has to watch out for heavy rains,
10:10 which have been hitting the area
10:12 even during dry season.
10:14 When it starts raining,
10:16 the work stops.
10:18 Rain can also make the already
10:22 dangerous salt-making process
10:24 even more risky.
10:26 Despite the challenges,
10:34 Chetak is still the only factory
10:36 producing kala namak for customers
10:38 in Lucknow.
10:42 Salt is a key ingredient
10:44 in Indian street foods,
10:46 like chaat and salads.
10:48 In recent decades,
10:58 the salt has found a home
11:00 outside of South Asia.
11:02 Barkha Kardos is a culinary entrepreneur
11:04 living in New Jersey.
11:06 She's been eating kala namak
11:08 since she was a little girl in India.
11:10 As a child, you didn't pick up
11:12 on what it specifically was.
11:14 You just knew there was, you know,
11:16 a different kind of salt in your drink
11:18 or your food or, you know,
11:20 you topped your yogurt with it.
11:22 Today, she brings
11:24 classic Indian flavors to the American
11:26 market with her spice blends.
11:28 She works with a spice company,
11:32 Burlap and Barrel, to source the kala namak
11:34 she uses from India.
11:36 Bringing it to other markets
11:38 out of India,
11:40 not only are we increasing
11:42 awareness of our
11:44 beautiful cuisine, but we're
11:46 also bringing awareness to our
11:48 farmers, how they work.
11:50 The salt is a key ingredient in one of
11:54 her most popular blends,
11:56 chaat masala.
11:58 So I'm going to add
12:00 tamarind,
12:02 ginger,
12:04 kala namak,
12:06 chili powder,
12:08 little bit of
12:12 the asafoetida or hing,
12:14 not a lot, but just a little bit.
12:16 And then this is all the other spices
12:20 that we had put in.
12:22 And this is how
12:24 I like to taste it.
12:26 Just take a little bit of it.
12:28 It's good.
12:32 It's sharp.
12:34 It's spicy.
12:36 It's tangy.
12:38 Over the years, Barkha says
12:42 she's seen the salt become more
12:44 widely used in America,
12:46 especially in vegan cuisine,
12:48 thanks to its eggy taste.
12:50 Just finishing it with a little
12:52 bit of that black salt,
12:54 you realize you get a little
12:56 bit of that flavor,
12:58 which reminds you of that egg,
13:00 you know,
13:02 that you've given up.
13:04 There are so many amazing chefs,
13:06 not just Indian, but American chefs
13:08 that are using it
13:10 and are talking about it.
13:12 I'm just so proud and happy that
13:14 we're opening it up to
13:16 the world.
13:18 Something that we all took for granted
13:20 growing up in India or using it,
13:22 even today, and to then see
13:24 friends of yours or people you know
13:26 asking you about it and wanting to
13:28 learn more about it and use it.
13:30 It's perfect.
13:32 Today, Chetak sells its kala namak
13:36 to merchants who export it to
13:38 countries like the U.S. and the U.K.
13:40 While Ram doesn't
13:42 know what the future holds for his
13:44 factory, he's proud of the work
13:46 he's done to keep traditional
13:48 kala namak alive.
13:50 [Speaking in Hindi]
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