As the 2020 gardening season came to an end, I found myself scrambling for ways to use up many of my culinary herbs. The final harvest provided several bundles of thyme, rosemary, basil, chives, sage, oregano, and cayenne.
The seasoning isle at the grocery store provides a wide variety of options, but with how simple it is to make your own (and come up with your own blends) I doubt we will ever purchase our own again!
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For each salt, you will need:
- Dehydrator (or you can dry them low and slow in your oven)
- A good blender (we use a personal size Ninja Blender)
- Himalayan Pink Salt
- Bottles for storage
Directions
The process for making your salt is pretty similar across the board.
- Blend your herbs in the blender
- Add your salt
- Pulse a few times to mix
- Spread out your herb salt on the dehydrator trays and dehydrate at 100F for 24-48 hours. Time will vary depending on the humidity in your home and water content of your herbs.
- Bottle and label for storage!
Tuscan Blend
Ingredients:
Dried, equal parts of:
- Oregano
- Basil
- Chives
- Sage
- Rosemary
- Cayenne
And:
- 1 cup of Himalayan pink salt (or more or less depending on preference)
This salt has been amazing to season all types of meat, but definitely lovely in pasta sauce! I feel like the possible combinations are endless. This has been my favorite herbal combination. Hopefully this growing season I can perfect a few more to share!
Celery and Garlic Salt
For the last several weeks, we have been getting celery in our Misfits Market box. We don’t eat them raw often and as the seasons have been in transition, I’ve been moving away from the nourishing soups that were a staple this winter.
My solution has been to dehydrate them and store for use at a later point.
We’ve been without celery salt (as purchased from a store) for quite some time, as I’ve been wanting to make this at home! One rainy day last month, I decided to finally attempt to make our own.
Ingredients:
Celery
Equal parts dried celery to salt. (I did 1 cup of each)
Garlic
2 parts dried garlic to 1 part salt. (I’m a huge fan of garlic. For us, the stronger the better!)
Directions
With the celery salt, I tried drying the celery, blending, and then blending the mixture of salt and celery together. This provided a VERY fine (almost dust) consistency that I don’t really care for. I still use it, and it tastes and smalls wonderful. As far as ease of use, it definitely could use some improvement!
For the garlic, I did the same method as the Tuscan Blend that made for a course salt mix.
Dehydrating Other Fruits and Vegetables
When I am able to add on mushrooms with Misfits Market, I’ve been getting as many as possible. This winter I’ve been learning just how beneficial mushrooms are. Unfortunately, the boys don’t care for the texture of cooked mushrooms.
By dehydrating and pulverizing to a powder, I can add an extra boost of mushroom nutrition to smoothies, soups, breads, salad dressing, etc. and there’s no fuss!
Dried oranges and ginger are great to have on hand to add into teas and herbal syrups!
