I’ve never made my own flavored sea salt before. Lately I’ve been more into making homemade crafty type gifts and I like to include something homemade in my Foodie Penpal Swaps. This month I decided to include Fresh Lime Sea Salt.
Don’t try to use lime juice from the bottle. You absolutely need fresh juice and the zest here or there’s no point making this salt. Trust me okay?
- 3 limes, zested and juiced
- 1 cup coarse sea salt
- Preheat oven to 200F.
- In a small bowl, combine sea salt with lime juice and zest.
- Spread out on a parchment lined baking sheet.
- Bake in low oven for 15-20 minutes. It should not brown but appear dry.
- Let cool. Break up larger pieces that may have clumped together.
- Store in air-tight containers.
I buy my coarse sea salt from Costco. They sell the sea salt with a grinder built on the top. It’s $3.79 for about 2 cups (or more) worth of sea salt. You could also probably buy coarse sea salt or Kosher salt from Bulk Barn or your bulk foods store for a reasonable price too.
The fresh lime zest is so fragrant and beautiful.
I also tried to experiment with a homemade balsamic salt but I ended up with a gooey sticky mess that no matter how long I baked it for never did dry out. Weird. I think I know where I went wrong though. I should have left the oven door open a crack to let the moisture escape. Back to the drawing board on that one I guess.
What if you made the balsamic salt in a food dehydrator? Also, thanks! You’ve given me a great idea for Christmas gifts.
Mari that is an ingenious idea!!! I think I need to find myself a food dehydrator on the cheap and try it out. Thanks!
Just add powdered balsamic vinegar to salt.
I’ve never heard of powdered balsamic vinegar before … must look into it now. Thanks for the tip.
will you come take photos of my stuff? haha your posts are always SO PRETTY! I was wondering if your friends would be interested in spice blends? I use this one for taco season, and I have my own sazon blend I’d be happy to pass along! http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Taco-Seasoning-I/Detail.aspx
Aww thanks Kate. That’s such a nice compliment. I am just learning how to use my new camera but have been trying to make my photos look more appetizing. Glad to know that I’m slowly improving. 🙂
Thanks for the link to the Taco Seasoning blend. I love spice blends so I’d love to hear what you use for Sazon too. Thanks for sharing!
What would you use this salt for? I think it might be good on baked crispy chick peas….any other suggestions?
That sounds like a brilliant idea Melissa. Honestly the only thing I cared about using this salt for was rimming some margaritas this summer. Sprinkling a bit of this lime salt on homemade tortilla chips would be pretty awesome too I think.
im using it for chips
That gooey mess might not be such a mess…it sounds like it might b a good base for soup or a sauce…just an idea…let me know how it works out….
I haven’t tried the recipe yet, but I am excited to find it. I’m going to use the salt as a flavoring for air-popped popcorn! I got the idea from Outrageous Olive Oils and Vinegars. (I did buy a jar of their Lime Fresco Sea Salt, but it was $15 for 2.5 ozs. I’m not afraid of trying to recreate something if it can save me that kind of cash! I do appreciate their quality AND their recipe ideas, though.) Anyway, you spray garlic oil on the popcorn and sprinkle on the lime sea salt. Yum! Thanks for the recipe!!!
I’m so glad to find one that uses lime juice as well as the zest. I feel like just the zest doesn’t quite give it the same flavor as the juice, that fruity pop that makes you pucker. Margaritas, chips, marinades, or just salting things like chicken or fish seem like perfect platforms platforms for this salt. I’m excited to try it!
Did you give it a go Caelie? (Love your name btw!)
Sprinkle on citrus fruit. Amazing. It’s how they did in Texas when I lived there.
Fruit. Especially citrus.
How long does the sea salt last?
Really, once it’s dehydrated it should ideally last indefinitely. It is mostly salt after all, and salt is an ancient method of preservation. It makes a small enough amount, and I gifted most of it, so I really don’t know how long it would last since mine got used up within a year.
We have a cooking group, and out gathering this month focused on finishing salts, and our host had made infused lime and lemon salts. In addition to adding the lime salt to glass rims for drinks, we experimented with these two salts on scallops that were cooked on a salt block, as well as oven baked vegetables, and they were a wonderful additon. I’ll be making your lime infused salt today, and will try a lemon version as well.
Awesome! Thanks for sharing your cooking group experience – very cool!
I HAVE GONE NUTZ OVER THE LIME SALT! TRY IT ON WATEMELON, CANTALOPE,MANGOS, BAKED SWEET POTATOES,TALAPIA FISH,DEVILED EGGS MADE WITH SHRIMP,BLOODY MARYS MADE WITH TEQUILA,GREEN BEANS, ETC. ETC.ETC, IT’S GRRRRRRRREAT!!!!!!VERNE
Love it!!
This looks great. Can’t wait to try it for my margaritas and to use on fish!
Yum!!! Perfect timing for summer!
I made the lime salt and I have a question it never really fully dried I put it in the air tight jar anyway is that normal?
Hmmm. It could just be the humidity in your area that’s making it take longer to dry out. I would let it dry longer and see if it dries out.
We use it on popcorn even my 5 year-old granddaughter loves it!
I can’t eat fresh sliced tomatoes without this!
Love this!! Thanks for stopping by to share that Stacey.