Every Christmas, I visit family bearing homemade gifts. Three years ago, all of the women in my family received a gallon of homemade laundry detergent with instructions to make their own once it was gone. Two years ago, I whipped together mason jars of honey sugar scrub. Last year, each couple got a food allergy friendly tin of homemade chocolate dipped treats such as Glutino “oreos” and peppermint sticks. This year I taught myself to arm knit infinity scarfs and spent October through December 24th arm knitting a truck load of scarfs. But I wanted to make something else – something special just for my parents and my in-laws – something inexpensive but nothing they’d expect. I stumbled upon this post by Local Kitchen and loved how simple it was!
I ran to the grocery store and grabbed one bag each of organic lemons and limes as well as a tall container of finely ground sea Salt. When I got home, I armed myself with a couple bowls and a zester and set to work. You can do this with lemons, limes, oranges, tangerines, grapefruits… really, any citrus fruit! With citrus, the highest concentration of pesticides is on the outside, so I recommend using organic fruits for your zest.
The following is what I used to make two 2-cup jars of citrus salts.
What You’ll Need…
- 6-8 each of organic lemons and limes (or enough of any citrus to make two cups of zest)
- About 2 cups of finely ground sea salt
- 2 air tight jars
What To Do…
- Wash and dry the fruit. Zest enough fruit to give you 2 cups of zest – more or less depending on the size of your container(s) – we’re shooting for a 50/50 mixture. I zested the lemons into one bowl and the limes into another.
- Combine zest with equal parts sea salt. Use your fingers to rub the two ingredients together – the goal here is to coat the salt with the zest, which allows the salt to work it’s magic, drying out the zest for a natural “preserving” effect.
- Allow the mixture to air dry – it took about 48 hours for the salt to feel dry enough for me to feel like it was ready to close into the air-tight containers. Once it was dry, I layered the salts – lemon, lime, lemon, lime – in two jars for a really pretty effect.
The salts should stay for about a year if stored in a sealed jar or other container but if you’re planning on using it often, I would recommend keeping some in a salt cellar, like this one from Crate&Barrel, next to your stove! The best part about this salt is that you can add to it, changing up the flavors, each time you buy citrus!
Use it in stir-fries, eggs, sauces, or dressings! Add a kick to your daily cooking, and enjoy less salt with more flavor! Enjoy ❤
