According to the owner of the saltpans, telco Telekom Slovenije, Selfridges will take over all of the marketing and promotion in the UK in the next two months and distribute the salt to opinion makers such as chefs, food writers and bloggers.

The salt made a breakthrough to the British market through the company Slovely, established in 2012 in London to distribute high-quality Slovenian food products in high-end restaurants and retail chains in the UK.

Currently, the salt from Piran can be bought in 15 countries around the world - the US, around Europe, in Japan and Australia - and is used in numerous high-class restaurants.

An average of 1,000 tonnes of sea salt are harvested in the Piran saltpans annually using traditional methods.