The tools the salt worker
Attached to Brittany and the strength of their traditions, the paludiers have made the choice to preserve ancestral harvesting techniques inherited from past generations, without resorting to machines.
Le las
Equipped with a 5-meter-long flexible handle, this is the best-known tool. It is used to harvest coarse salt.
La lousse à Fleur de sel
Historically made of wood, the fleur de sel lousse is used to pick the fleur de sel from the surface of the carnations. There are now more elaborate lousses made from modern, lighter, food-grade materials.
The wheelbarrow
It is used to transport salt from the ladures to the trémet. In the early '50s, it replaced the "gède", a wooden container that women used to balance on their heads with a rolled-up canvas cushion, the torch. Wheelbarrows can hold 120 to 150kg of salt.
The bridge kit
The wooden bridging tool, similar to the fleur de sel tool, differs in that its handle is shorter and thicker. It is used for annual bridge repairs.
The limu rake
It is used to rake limu, a seaweed that grows in marshes.
La cesse (made of wood)
The cesse is a large, hand-operated scoop used for emptying water or disposing of silt.
The boyette (or houlette) (made of sheet steel)
This is the salt worker's shovel used for certain salt marsh maintenance tasks.
Le boutoué (wooden)
Similar in shape to the las, it is used to push mud away from the blushes and in the carnations before harvesting, to keep the bottom clean.
The little dictionary the salt worker
From barbotage to trémet, via ladure and lotie, immerse yourself in the world apart from salt and the salt workers of Guérande.