A fresh herb salt can be a great way to use up herbs when the garden's overflowing, and a learning experience that'll give you a deeper understanding of different herbs you grow, and how their flavors can be combined with others. Inspired my an Italian mix of herbs called borraccino said to smell like the forest after a rainfall, today I'll walk you through a few versions you can make at home.
For most of my career I've looked down on herb salts, as all I knew where expensive jars in boutique kitchen stores of dried herbs mixed with dried salt. But, just like ramp salt, processing the herbs with the salt when fresh gives a very different product, the end result becoming a snapshot of your garden at a certain place in time.
How to Make it
First, pick the herbs and remove any woody stems. It's good to do this with an extra set of hands to cut down on prep time. Next, mound the leaves up on a board and roughly chop them. Rosemary, lavender, lemongrass, or fresh bay leaves should chopped individually to ensure the pieces are very small.
Put the herbs in a food processor with the salt and process until the mixture's an even consistency. Be careful to puree the mixture just enough to get a smooth, uniform mixture. Overprocessing will heat it and change the flavor. Immediately transfer the salt to a mason jar with a lid.
Refrigerate the salt to keep the flavor bright and fresh, or store in the freezer.
Chef's Tips
Each combination will be a little different, and this is a great excuse to get to know the herbs you grow on a more intimate level.
The goal is to make a salt where each of the individual herbs blends into the background so that you can't pick out a singular aroma. To that end, the proportions in the basic recipe are flexible, but there's a few rules I've come up with for myself to ensure each blend is balanced.
- Sage and rosemary I limit to ½ cup (½ oz) per 1 cup (8 oz) of Morton kosher salt. Any more and their flavor will dominate.
- I avoid all mint, from spearmint to pennyroyal, as well as licorice flavors like tarragon as they tend to take over.
- A huge blend of herbs is wonderful, but finding unique, complimentary combinations can be just as good. A blend of lovage, basil and lemon thyme will make your toes curl.
- Aromatic flowers like signet marigold, and bee balm are fun to add if you have some.
Herb Combinations I Love
I've made many combinations over the years. Here's a few examples. Note that each combination uses the same proportions of 4 oz herbs to 8 oz salt.
Electric Green Herb Salt
- 2 oz lovage
- 1 oz basil
- 1 oz lemon thyme (or half lemon verbena or lemon balm)
- 1 lemon leaf
- ½ oz green coriander seed (optional but so good, I often freeze it until I need)
Italian Herb Salt
- ½ oz chopped rosemary or lavender leaves
- ½ oz fresh sage leaves
- 1 oz fresh oregano or marjoram
- 2 oz fresh parsley
- ½ oz fresh thyme
- 1 small hot chili pepper, fresh
- 1 large fresh bay leaf (optional)
100% Wild Herb Salt
Fresh ground sweetfern nutlets can be substituted for the juniper, spicebush leaves and berries, too.
- 2 oz fresh bee balm leaves
- 1 oz chopped wild onion leaves
- 1 oz parsley-like leaves, like wild chervil
- ¼ oz yarrow leaves (costmary is good too)
- 1 tablespoon well-crushed wild juniper berries or cedar cones, preferably unripe and green
- 1 frozen ramp bulb
How to Use Herb Salt
Every other recipe I've looked at for comparison seems to make the same common mistake: they instruct you to dehydrate or dry the salt before using. While drying the salt won't ruin it, and it will eventually dry out after months in the fridge, you're missing out on one of the most exciting parts.
When it's freshly made, the salt will be slightly juicy. It may seem difficult to use as it can't be sprinkled, but the juiciness is part of the magic as the herbs still have a fresh flavor.
When it's still damp and fresh, think of the finished product more like a rub of salted herbs than "herb salt". Instead of sprinkling it on meat, you'll rub the meat with it, ideally letting it sit overnight before cooking, or vacuum sealing it for the strongest flavor.
Other than that, you can use the salt anywhere you'd use regular salt. Here's a few ideas:
- Rub a piece of fish with it right before cooking.
- One of the best ways to use it is on roast chicken or grilled meats, ideally seasoned the night before.
- Fresh salts made with softer herbs like basil, lovage or oregano are great used to season a fresh salad of cut tomatoes and sweet corn.
- If you made a lot of salt, you can use it to make an herb brine for pork or poultry.
- Toss it with vegetables like carrots and parsnips, eggplant, peppers or potatoes before roasting. Start with ½ tablespoon salt per pound of vegetables.
Adjusting Salt Ratios in Cooking
One thing that can get tricky is when you're attempting to use the salt in regular recipes. With most savory dishes it's not an issue and you can simply use a bit more than you normally would, adding it to taste. For recipes where the salt is weighed, if it hasn't been dried, you can use 30% more than the recipe calls for. Typically I just add it to taste.
Related Posts
Garden Herb Salt
Equipment
- 1 Pint mason jar
- 1 chefs knife
Ingredients
- 8 oz Morton kosher salt see note
- ½ oz fresh rosemary
- ½ oz fresh sage or lavender leaves
- 1 oz fresh thyme leaves or summer savory
- 1 oz fresh oregano or marjoram
- 1 oz fresh parsley, chervil, or similar
- 1 tsp grated garlic
- 3-4 gratings of fresh organic lemon zest
- 10 grinds of the peppermill
- 1 tsp juniper berries crushed with the back of a knife
- 1 inch piece fresh hot chili pepper optional
- 1 small fresh bay leaf optional
Instructions
- inspect the herbs to make sure they're clean, if they're not, wash and dry them well.
- Pick the leaves from the herbs, removing any tough or woody stems.
- Roughly chop the herbs and put in a food processor with the remaining ingredients.
- Process the mixture on high speed, pulsing at first and then processing until smooth, about 20-30 seconds.
- Immediately transfer the herb salt to a pint jar with a lid and store in the refrigerator. It will last for a very long time, but will eventually become dry, which is fine.
Skadi
I'm having so much fun making these! Today I made cilantro with serrano chile pepper salt and thought it would be good on the rim of a margarita or other tequila drink. My kitchen smells like herbaceous heaven!
Corla McGillivray
I made a batch using the thyme, rosemary, oregano and basil growing on my deck… the smell was WOW! I used it as a rub on pork chops and found it a little overpowering on the salt level? ( used pickling salt?) Should I have rinsed it off before cooking? ( i cooked in air fryer on grill to 140 degrees)
Thanks for your wonderful recipes…. Side note, I got to enjoy Chantrelle mushrooms for the first time this year, what a treat!
Alan Bergo
Hey there. So I would assume pickling salt or typical fine, iodized salt would work differently than the Morton kosher I call for the recipe. Morton kosher is really my first choice here and other salts, especially fine ones don’t produce as good of a result. Next time just use a little less.
Chandler
Thanks Alan. I’ll be making a bunch of this. Any potential issues in using sea salt?
Alan Bergo
Morton Kosher has the best texture I’ve found. Diamond kosher is too fine and becomes a paste. As long as the sea salt is relatively coarse it should be ok.
Linda
I admit I got advance notice of this herb salt and chose to make it. It was fantastic! It's very intense and I like how you caution about using certain herbs as they can over-power. Also using good, fresh lemon zest really packs a nice flavor punch. It's a great gift to give to those who like to cook, something people may not want to bother making themselves.
Alan Bergo
Linda! Thanks so much for your help with the testing process.
Dawn Sodt
Hi Alan,
This article you’ve offered regarding herbal salts is exactly what I've been needing. In the last year, I’ve come to realize that there are a lot of flavors in my small “food forest” that I’m trying to cultivate. Forest is a big word for such a small city plot, but I have flavors I didn’t realize I was planting such as those from leaves of black currants, horseradish, and fig. Now, you’ve mentioned another, lemon leaf! We often think only the fruit or seed is flavorful, but leaves are also amazing. Perhaps a salt of fig leaf (for its coconut overtones), lemongrass, and thai basil might be interesting and useful with seafood. I also have access to sumac here in the Northwest, but think my dried rhubarb powder might be a fair substitute for adding sourness to dishes, though I haven’t compared them, yet in a taste test. I’m also interested in using more seeds for flavor such as those of various onion species. Your book, Flora, includes Cow Parsnip seeds and, while I don’t have those, I have seeds of bulb fennel, lovage, orach, and mâche. I started following your blog when I got into mushroom hunting and needed recipes for using what I found. Thank you for helping me expand my culinary adventures as well as my foraging and gardening skills!
Alan Bergo
Hey thanks Dawn.
Frogmountain
Could you do this with nasturtium blossoms?
Alan Bergo
They’re better as a vegetable component, they just don’t have enough oomph.
Andrew Skorzewski
I made ramp salt for the first time this year and was blown away. Even though I dried it it still popped with ramp flavor.
Definitely going to explore this.
What do you think of vacuum packing it? I can just picture opening bag in February and having all of the original flavour.
Alan Bergo
I vacuum seal 5lb bags of ramp salt when I want to sell it at events. I also hold it in the fridge until it’s time, and the aroma is perfectly preserved. Definitely the best way to store it, if you can.
Sara
This looks amazing, I'm excited to give it a try.. I understand it's fine if it goes dry even when refrigerated, but does it go off after a certain amount of time? Thanks!
Alan Bergo
Hi Sara, no it will never rot, if that’s what you mean. The salt concentration is still so high that it will keep indefinitely, although you’ll notice as it dries the flavor will soften with time. Even a year old jar is far better than any commercial salt/herb mix I’ve had.
Lisa
I make gomaschio substituting the sesame seeds with garlic chive seeds and also one with the extremely generous garlic mustard seeds. They are both dry salts. I’m really eager to make these fresh garden salts. Thank you! Looking forward to another original shirt design also!
Alan Bergo
Thanks Lisa. As my illustrator friend is a goth clothing artist the most likely second shirt, if we get to it, would be huitlacoche. I’ll see her this weekend at NAMA so thanks for the reminder to ask about that.