Basil-flavored Salt
My basil plants have gone wild. Growing like crazy. The most productive crop I’ve ever harvested. The Question? “How much pesto does one need?”
Those chefs at Food Network Magazine must be having the same problem because their September issue included a full-page layout on making basil-flavored salt. If that’s how Ina and Bobby and Giada and Guy are utilizing their extra basil, count me in. This week, I produced a personal cache of my own. Easy.
Put 1 cup of basil leaves, packed, and 1/2 cup of kosher salt into your food processor.
BASIL-FLAVORED SALT
Adapted from Food Network Magazine
Yield: 1/2 Cup
Ingredients:
1/2 Cup Diamond Crystal Kosher Salt (You may also use sea salt but I prefer kosher)
1 Cup fresh Basil leaves, packed
Directions:
Preheat oven to 225 degrees.
Wash Basil leaves carefully, preventing bruising, and dry thoroughly with a paper towel. Place leaves and 1/2 cup of salt in your food processor. Pulse about 12 times. Spread the mixture on a parchment-lined baking sheet and bake at 225 degrees until dry for 30 to 40 minutes. (I baked my mixture for 30 minutes and then turned off the oven for 10 more minutes.)
Let cool, return mixture to your processor and pulse again 6 to 8 times to create a fine powder. Pour it through a mesh strainer.
Twelve pulses later and you’re half-way to making salt.
Use to flavor everything from the obvious, fresh tomatoes and mozzarella, to sauces and salad dressings to meats, poultry and fish to stir-fry dishes to popcorn to Bloody Marys or other drinks.
Bake for 30 miinutes at 225 degrees, turn off the oven, bake for another 10 minutes. If not dry enough to your liking, bake longer. Midway through, toss the salt, breaking up clumps.
This process can be adjusted to make any flavored salt and I am going to try making olive salt as well as saffron-flavored salt next. If you are interested in knowing more about cooking with the world’s favorite seasoning, may I suggest SALT by Valerie Aikman-Smith. Or, go to The Meadow, a small speciality food purveyor (salts) located in Portland, Oregon, and the West Village, New York City. I’ve ordered products from them on line with great results.
“Salt has been a prized possession since the beginning of civilization,” Aikman-Smith writes. It was once a form of currency and wars have been won and lost over it. Nations have been taxed on their salt. In China, salt tax revenues were used to build the Great Wall. There are salt routes all over the world that were used to transport salt from continent to continent. At one time salt was so precious it was traded ounce for ounce with gold.”
Basil-flavored Salt can be used in many different foods, given as a gift, or included in your holiday food baskets.
“A wise woman puts a grain of sugar into everything she says to a man, and takes a grain of salt with everything he says to her.” Helen Rowland (English-American writer, 1876-1950)
Intriguing! Wonder how it would taste on popcorn…
It tastes delicious on popcorn, sans butter. (My opinion) I tried it on several different foods and had, in my opinion, no fails. It is not a “strong” flavoring. Rather, salt is salt is salt.
COOL!! So how long is it good for and how do you store it?
Store Basil-flavored salt just as you would regular salt. It is dried/baked thoroughly.
That’s a nice way to use up your extra basil. I’ve been making quite a lot of pesto this summer, since last year’s batch was mostly eaten by my parents, when they discovered how much they liked (my) homemade pesto.
Wow. I will be making this today! I need a few hostess gifts for parties tonight and tomorrow and this will be just PERFECT. I only wish I had a ‘too much basil’ problem.
Love You, Trevor. What a nice compliment. Hai Ku.
What a wonderful idea! I’ve purchased flavored salts but never thought of making my own! I also like Trevor’s idea of giving them as hostess gifts!
Enjoy your weekend! We just arrived in 109 degrees Clovis…
You and John are insane, Susan, to knowingly venture into 109 degree temps!
I haven’t gone through that issue yet and now I’m very excited! I tend to let my cooking magazines pile up – I never seem to have enough time yet I don’t want to cancel my subscriptions. This salt seems very intriguing and my basil plants are huge too so I think I will definitely do this! Thanks Mary!
THAT. Is a great idea. Love, love, love.
I am not sure one can ever have too much pesto in the freezer (winters are long up here), but I really like this alternate use for the basil.
Mary, I am sure that thebasil-flavored salt tastes and smells wonderful, the whole process of flavoring your salt kind of reminds me of my homemade vanilla sugar I made a few days ago. It is easy and very satisfying to flavor salts or sugar. And very impressive. And great as gifts.
Hey, you can send some of that basil my way – currently selling for $2.45 a bunch in Woolies.
Mary, Such a great way to use some of my very prolific basil! It sounds wonderful…thanks for the inspiration!!
Hi Mary, Sorry that you had to skip the scallops, but I understand. The upside is that you shared this amazing salt idea. I have plentiful basil and will definitely try this. I made herb salts in the fall, inspired by Melissa Clark, but only did it with more hearty herbs like sage and rosemary. I love your version., so much more summery. I’ll let you know how it comes out.
Hi Mary,
I make black olive tapinade and green olive tapinade, but I only ever use olives from the Robert Victoire’s olive groves. They are the best olives in the whole of Provence. Do you have your pencil ready? Here’s what you need.”
500 grams of olives; black or green olives, but don’t forget to take out the stones.
2 fresh anchovies; rinse them and fillet them, or you can use 4 little fillets from a jar.
3 large spoons of capers; don’t add too much liquor or it will be too salty.
1 clove of garlic; crush it to a paste with a pinch of sea salt to bring out the flavour.
1 small spoonful of chopped rosemary leaves; no stalks mind, just the tender leaves.
4 large spoons of Robert’s olive oil; drizzle it in a bit at a time until you have the texture you want.
And finally, my special ingredient, a pinch of cayenne pepper.
Crush with your best stone pestle and mortar and keep in the fridge. How long does it keep? Not long in our house. Enjoy –
Oh, Brian, thank you. Store-bought, no more. Do you mind if I share it? Straight from the mouth of a “chef superb” who domiciles in Provence?