An herbal finishing salt is a flavourful condiment and a creative way to preserve the freshness of the herb garden for use throughout the year. Herb finishing salt can be used to flavour fresh vegetables from the garden or garnish your other culinary creations. It is easy to make and packed with aromatherapy, making the preparation process a therapeutic journey in itself.
Ever since I planted a culinary kitchen garden years ago, I’ve been loaded with herbs. They’ve become a staple in my garden and one of the first things I added to the garden in my new house.
I have giant rosemary, sage, oregano, and mint plants that refuse to be contained. I’m harvesting, preparing, and giving away a LOT of herbs to the point where my neighbours are locking their doors and closing the blinds when they see me coming with an armful of greenery!
I’m kidding, of course.
They don’t seem to mind herb deliveries all that much. How could they? Fresh herbs smell fabulous and have such a large effect on health and well-being.
And with so many herbs growing in the garden, a finishing salt is a great way to preserve their flavour and bring it to meals throughout the year.
Rosemary Lime Herb Finishing Salt
I made these little jars of rosemary lime herb finishing salt for a Burpee Home Gardens dinner event that I hosted years ago. Thankfully, I had a ton of fresh rosemary because I had to make 25 jars of herb salt. Since then, I make them every time my rosemary bush is ready to harvest.
I’ve pared the recipe down to 10 jars to make it a bit more manageable here, but you can scale it up or down depending on how many jars you want to make in the end.
This recipe is for rosemary and lime flavour, but you can easily customize it with other herbs. Also try lemon instead of lime if you wish!
Ingredients
See the recipe card below for exact measurements.
- Coarse sea salt
- Fresh rosemary leaves
- Large limes
Make It!
Harvest fresh herbs from the garden and use them for this recipe within a week. Dried herbs don’t have the essential oils and aroma that make this salt something special.
Remove the leaves from the stems of the rosemary. The stems are too woody; you just want the tender green leaves for this recipe.
To remove the leaves, pinch the stem at the top with your fingers and hold the top of the sprig of rosemary with your other hand. Pull down on the branch to remove the leaves.
Note: you want four cups of the leaves, not the leaves and the stems.
Add the leaves to a powerful food processor or Vitamix blender, or hand cut the herbs finely. I used the dry attachment of my Vitamix and it made quick work of chopping up the rosemary leaves. I went from almost a full blender of leaves to about two cups of chopped-up leaves in seconds.
Set aside the herbs in a bowl.
Add the coarse salt to the blender/food processor and pulse to grind up the salt to your desired texture. I like to have a few larger grains of salt in the mix, but at least 80% of it is fine.
Mix the leaves with the salt in a large bowl. Add the zest of four limes and stir.
Leave the salt, lime, and rosemary to infuse for another week. Leave the lid open to allow the moisture from the limes and the herbs to evaporate.
After a week, pack up the herb finishing salt in small terrine-lidded jars.
Serve herb finishing salt with a tiny wooden pinch spoon because a) it’s cute and b) it keeps fingers out of the salt.
I bought the adorable 1″ wood scoops for $2 each at The Soap Dispensary in Vancouver, BC. I’ve been looking for an online source for these little scoops but the smallest I can find is these 3″ wood scoops. If I find an online source for the smaller ones, I’ll be sure to post it here.
Use a dash of finishing salt on meat and fresh vegetables from the garden to add a little bit of extra freshness and garden flavour to every meal.
FAQ About Herb Finishing Salt
I use this herb finishing salt for a year. It could last even longer, as the salt acts as a preservative. The herbs inside will begin to fade in flavour somewhat is the 6-month mark.
For me, I use it up before then, which is good timing as the herb garden should be growing again by then.
I leave the mixture out in the open for a week to let the herbs infuse into the salt. I zest the fresh lime right into the salt mixture. You want to leave the mixture open and not sealed while it’s infusing to allow the moisture from the lime and fresh herbs to evaporate.
More Herb Recipes to Try
Fresh Lime and Rosemary Herb Finishing Salt
This finishing salt is packed with flavour to top off meats and vegetables, and also packages as a beautiful hostess gift.
Servings: 10 4 oz jars
- 4 cups coarse sea salt
- 4 cups fresh rosemary leaves
- 4 large limes
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Use fresh herbs from the garden for this recipe to maximize taste.
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Remove rosemary leaves from the woody stem.
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Add the leaves to a powerful food processor or Vitamix blender until the herbs are fine. Set aside herbs.
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Add the coarse salt to the food processor and pulse a few times until it has reached the desired texture.
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In a large bowl, mix in the salt with the grinded rosemary leaves. Zest the four limes directly into the bowl and stir.
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Let the herb finishing salt infuse uncovered for a week.
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Once a week has passed, package your herb finishing salt into airtight containers.
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Use a scoop when using the herb finishing salt to keep fingers out of the mixture.
