Flavorful and pretty, this citrus herb seasoning salt will add a spark to any dish.
Edible gifts have always been some of my favorite gift to give and receive… Obviously, I am highly motivated by food… After all, I have pretty much dedicated a large portion of my life to growing, raising, preparing, eating and writing about food! Over the holiday season, it always seems to be a good idea to have ready-made and packaged edible gifts for drop by visitors and last minute add-ons. This Citrus Herb Seasoning Salt in gorgeous quilted jelly jars perfectly fits the bill. Intensely flavored and quite pretty in its own way, these salts are a delight to cook with!
I like to start with good quality sea salts. Full of trace minerals and proper salt flavor, these provided the perfect, even healthful, foundation for the seasoning blend. I like to use a combination of dried rosemary, thyme and fennel seed as they play so well with vegetables, pork, chicken and even fish. Then comes the tricky part –dehydrating the zest of one orange and one lemon, plus an onion and few cloves of garlic. Sure, you can buy garlic and onion powder, but it is easy enough to do yourself and the flavor is so much fresher and more pronounced. Coarsely ground black pepper and a whirl in the food processor, and you have yourself some delicious seasoning salts to share!
You can use a couple of different methods to dry the rest of the ingredients. First you will need to wash and scrub the citrus fruits – removing any waxy coating (best if you can buy organic). Then, using a vegetable peeler, remove the colored skin, avoiding the white pith. Next, simply slice a medium onion into rounds, loosen and break up rounds, and slice up three to five garlic cloves into large chunks. At this point you can simply load a dehydrator tray and dry until brittle (this can take a few hours to a day depending on your dehydrator). In lieu of a dehydrator, dry on a lined baking sheet in an oven set at the lowest setting for several hours until thoroughly dried.
This citrus herb seasoning salt is incredibly versatile. Rub into pork chops, blend into a compound butter and tuck under the skin of a roasting chicken, dust over fish or toss with roasted vegetables. Be sure to make a tag with some suggestions and tuck away a jar for yourself!
Citrus Herb Seasoning Salt Recipe
Citrus Herb Seasoning Salt
Ingredients
- 4 cups sea salt
- 4 tablespoons dried rosemary
- 4 tablespoons dried thyme
- 2 tablespoons dried fennel seeds
- 2 tablespoons coarsely ground black pepper
- dried skin of one orange
- dried skin of one lemon
- onion sliced and dried
- 3-5 cloves garlic sliced and dried
Instructions
- Place dried citrus peels, dried onion and dried garlic in the bowl of a food processor and pulse until fairly pulverized. There will be still some larger fleck of citrus, but the mixture should be fairly "dusty".
- Add sea salt, dried herbs, and pepper. Pulse until even combined and texture is a less coarse.
- Package in 4oz jelly jars.
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