It happens like this, I make a kale salad with a dressing that requires sage on Monday, an apple dish that requires tarragon on Thursday, and pretty much basil, cilantro, and rosemary make their way into every meal in between. Before I know it I have a drawer full of leftover herbs and absolutely NO way to use them all before they go bad. My usual go-to herb preservation method is to take the herbs, chop them up, and freeze them in ice cube trays with a little olive oil. I have also been known to throw whole leaves of basil or cilantro in with baby spinach for a truly delectable salad, and I most definitely make a mean herb based vegan pesto. This weekend though I decided to stray from the norm and turn my overflow of fresh herbs into herb infused finishing salts.
There is nothing better than sprinkling a little basil salt on top of grilled corn, or sage salt over a roasted root vegetable salad! Except for maybe rosemary salt over the top of your grilled vegetable and hummus tart. I could go on and on, but I think you get the picture. Have lots of herbs, make tasty salts!
Helpful holiday hint: {Because the holiday's will be upon us before we know it!} Herb infused finishing salts make excellent hostess gifts and stocking stuffers for the home cook. Make a double or triple batch, divide them into jars, seal and share. Your delicious gift will keep on giving for at least 6 months!
Step 1: Mince enough of the desired herbs to equal a tightly packed ¼ cup.
For this particular recipe I am using sage, but really any green leafy herb will do. Simply run a knife through the herbs and pack as many of them as you can in a ¼ cup dry measure.
Step 2: Combine the minced herbs and ¼ cup coarse sea salt in a spice grinder and process until finely ground.
You may have to stop from time to time to check on the consistency of the salt.
Step 3: Bake!
Spread the herb infused salt onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper and bake in a 175°F oven for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally. Once the baking time has ended turn off the oven and leave the sheet pan with the salt in the oven to dry for another 30 minutes with the door closed.
Remove from the oven and let cool to room temperature. Transfer to a jar and seal. This salt will keep for 6 months stored at room temperature.
As I mentioned above you can use practically any salt/herb combination that you desire. I have had great success with sage, basil, rosemary, oregano, and tarragon. I also know that if you happen to be using a lot of fresh lemon or lime juice and you are interested in zesting them first the zest will make an AMAZING stand in for the herbs in this finishing salt too.
PrintHow To Make Herb Infused Finishing Salts
- Prep Time: 3 mins
- Cook Time: 45 mins
- Total Time: 48 mins
- Yield: ½ cup 1x
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 175°F. Line a small baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside.
- In a spice grinder combine the minced herbs and coarse sea salt. Process until finely ground.
- Spread the mixture out onto the lined baking sheet and bake for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally. Turn the oven off and leave the door shut wit the sheet pan inside for 30 minutes.
- Remove the pan from the oven and let cool. Transfer to an airtight container and store at room temperature for up to 6 months.
Notes
Adapted from Afro-Vegan
beautysalesqueen says
Can you recommend another way to blend these items together into a fine grain without a spice grinder? Or can I leave it a bit "chunky" and still bake it at the same temp and time?
Meg says
I think you may have to bake it longer than the recipe calls for since the herbs will be bigger and need to dry out. It should taste fine a bit chunkier though:)
Kate @¡Hola! Jalapeño says
Meg, what a great idea! This is a perfect way to use up some of my garden herbs before it gets too cold!
Abby @ The Frosted Vegan says
This is brilliant! I can't wait to put the last of my herbs to use : )
Meg says
Thank you Abby!