Homemade Finishing Salts

I LOVE buying those flavored finishing salts but man they are expensive.  A one ounce jar of salt can easily cost $10.  Add in some variety and you've easily spent a small fortune just to flavor your food.  No thanks!  

Citrus and chili sea salt

Citrus and chili sea salt

After a little research it turns out that making your own salt is pretty easy.  My first shot at this was a chili and citrus sea salt.

The basic recipe is a ratio of flavor to salt at 3:1  In the above salt I used equal parts zest and chili to three parts salt.  The trick here is that everything needs to be BONE DRY.  For the zest this meant letting it sit at room temperature for about 24 hours before using.  One could probably quick dry this in an oven at very low temps as well.  Basically you will simply blend everything together in a food mill or Mortar and Pestle (if you feel the need to work out while cooking) BUT do not let your salt mix to turn into powder.  You still want a course crystal salt.

Jar this baby up for about a week to infuse the flavors and you're done.  Makes a nice handmade gift as well.

For a Savory salt, try dried herbs like Rosemary.