DIY Homemade Herbal Salt Blends - Gifts from the Garden
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Homemade Herbal Salt Blends - Gifts from the Garden
Herbal salt blends are a great way to use up herbs at the end of the summer to extend the garden season through the cooler months. They also happen to make a great gift that your friends will and family will love. My personal favorite thing about them is how easy they are to make. During the holidays, I enjoy putting together homemade gifts for friends and family but time is not always on my side. A project like this is a quick and easy way to share a little piece of the garden with the ones I love.
Once made, the herbal salt blends can be used for cooking anything you would add salt or spice to: meat, roasted vegetables, sprinkled over bread, and more. They are a great way to punch up the flavor in your favorite recipes.
Making the the Herbal Salt Blends
Herbal salt blends are so simple to put together and require only two basic ingredients: Herbs and salt. That's it. You can add extra flavor ingredients depending on your desired blend but this is optional. You will also need a food safe container for storage and tags/twine/ribbon if gifting your creation to a friend.
Ingredients & Supplies:
- Fresh or Dried Herbs
- Coarse Sea Salt
- Additional flavors - Dried garlic powder, chili pepper flakes, etc. (optional)
- Food Safe Containers (small tins or jars, etc.)
- Decorations (optional) - Tags & twine or ribbon for gifting
- Food Processor or blender - I prefer my food processor but a blender will work in a pinch.
Mixing the Salt
To make the herbal salt blends, first gather and prepare your herbs. If you've chosen to use fresh herbs, you'll start with washing and drying all of the herbs. You want to take care to remove as much excess water from the fresh herbs as possible and discard any stems. If using dry herbs, you can skip this step.
Once those are prepared, pour a cup (or more) of salt into the food processor and top with your desired amount of herbs and any additional flavor ingredients. Cover and pulse for 10 to 30 seconds or until the herbs are fully blended into the salt. You can create a finer blend by processing it for a longer amount of time, but I like to keep mine a bit on the coarse side.
Pour the salt blends into containers, and add any desired tags or ribbon. The blends can be used anywhere you would add salt in a normal recipe.
How long will the salt blends last?
Generally these blends are best when used within six months. The flavor intensity will decrease with time.
Should I use fresh or dried herbs?
Either works fine in this application, however, I prefer to use fresh herbs. If you don't have any in your garden at the moment, you can pick them up in the produce section of the grocery store. Dried herbs are more intense in flavor so a smaller amount can be used in the salt compared with the fresh herbs but fresh tends to infuse more flavor into the salt.
Can I make this without a food processor or blender?
If you wanted to try making this without a food processor or blender, I would suggest mincing your herbs and flavorings up before stirring them into the sea salt.
What additional flavor ingredients can I add?
The possibility of the herbal salt blends is limited only to your imagination. Pretty much anything you can find in the salt/spice aisle of the grocery can be added to your salt blend. Some ideas are: garlic powder, dried onion flakes, & pepper flakes.
Where do I find food safe containers?
These are readily available online and in many department or dollar stores. You can generally find them in the kitchen/food storage or craft section. I found these small metal boxes in the wedding favor section of a craft store. They are a great option if you want to make several for gifting.
Merry Christmas & Happy Holidays!
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