If you’ve ever breathed in the misty air on a Big Sur cliffside, you’ve tasted the "zing" of the Pacific. Most people just call it the ocean breeze, but Carlo Overhulser and his team at Big Sur Salts figured out how to put that specific feeling into a jar.

Legend has it that in 2015, a rogue wave in Big Sur soaked Carlo and left a bit of the ocean behind in a beer bottle he was holding. Instead of just drying off, he took that water home, evaporated it, and realized he was onto something special. Today, the team at Big Sur Salts has figured out how to put that specific coastal feeling into a jar. I used to think salt was just salt, but after learning of Carlo's process, it’s clear they are harvesting the literal DNA of the Monterey coastline.

If you’re wandering through the Carmel or Del Monte Farmers Markets and see a crowd hovering over what looks like a jewelry display, you’ve probably found Qouign (pronounced “queen.”)

The force behind the brand is Santana Rodriguez, a Soledad native and resilient "pastry queen" who sharpened her skills in legendary kitchens like Bernardus Lodge and Thomas Keller’s Bouchon before striking out on her own.

I’ve often walked down Cannery Row and wondered if the tourists snapping photos of the bronze statues realize just how much the ground beneath their feet has shifted. Today, it’s all high-end hotels, breezy galleries, and the world-class Monterey Bay Aquarium. But if you could peel back the layers of paint and modern glass, you’d find a place that was, for a long time, defined by a smell so pungent it could apparently peel the paint off a house!