This time of year I become just an itsy bit obsessed with citrus.
I eat grapefruit until my teeth ache and this year I started concocting all sorts of recipes and ways to use and preserve the citrus season year round.
Citrus salt was top of my list.
Lime salt especially because I love lime tortilla chips and you can't exactly make those at home without lime salt! 
I also love lemon pepper seasoning and I needed lemon salt to make that. If you were wondering, here's the lemon pepper recipe.
In fact, this post is the just the first in a whole series of posts focused on using citrus!
you will need:
Um, I bet you probably knew that.
You can use whatever tickles your fancy. I used lime, lemon and orange.
Salt
yeah, you knew that too.
I used this coarse kosher salt but this will work with any kind of salt.
A zester
Trust me, it will make this a whole lot easier but you could use a peeler or knife to remove the zest, just make sure you aren't taking any of the white pith along with the zest.
This is where
I got my zester, I like it but one with a handle, like this one
, would be even better. It just wouldn't survive in this house, my husband has a terrible curse: he breaks wimpy handles right off thing. Garden shovels, axes, kitchen utensils, you name it. So yeah, that would be why I got a zester without a handle. moving on...
you will also need
Some way to dry the salt and zest mixture
I used the oven but a dehydrator
would totally work. I think even better since you could dry the mix on a lower temperature and retain more of the fresh flavor. Optional but awesome: food processor
, mortar and pestle or spice grinderGrinding the zest salt mix will help the zest distribute more evenly through the salt but it totally isn't necessary, just nice.
Method
Ok, seriously this is really simple stuff!
Zest your citrus, don't forget to save the fruit to juice and then use the rind to make citrus vinegar. No waste here folks!
For every 1/2 cup salt I added 3 tbs zest.
If you are making lemon salt just for lemon pepper seasoning you might want to make it stronger if you like a really lemon-y lemon pepper seasoning, as much as 6tbs instead of three would be completely reasonable to me.
Next, mix your zest and salt together with a spoon. Use the back to crunch the salt and zest together, embrace your obsessive compulsive tendencies. You can't over mix it, and you'll get an arm workout!
When your arm gets tired or you are satisfied with how mixed everything is pop your dish into the oven at 200F with the door cracked, or into your dehydrator on the temperature setting for spices. Since I haven't tried it in the dehydrator yet I'm not sure how long it will take but it will likely only be a few hours so keep an eye on it.
Give it a couple stirs every few minutes to break up clumps. It will only take around 10 minutes, if even, to dry out. When the zest is crunchy its ready to come out.
Let your citrus salt cool then grind it up to your preference.
Let your citrus salt cool then grind it up to your preference.
That's all there is to it. Find a spice container or jar to store it in and dream up ways to use your tasty citrus salt.
How very cool! Looks like it would smell delicious. :) Thanks for promoting my blog!
ReplyDeleteOh yes! Our house smelled like a citrus orchard on a hot summer day ( or at least what I imagine one would smell like). Thanks for stopping by!
DeleteI love this! Will def have to try the lime and the lemon. I can think of so many uses already!
ReplyDeleteEnjoy! I know you will think of endless ways to use it. Thanks for dropping by and commenting, see you again soon!
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