And now for something completely different… it started out because I found some ramps (wild garlic, ransom, bear’s garlic … whatever you want to call it, in German, it is bärlauch) and wanted to be able to preserve them, given that the foraging season is so short. So I made the Wild Garlic Salt. Then I thought, what the heck, I’ll try to make lemon salt. And then I bought the habaneros. All turned out really well and the flavors are nice and bright. Great for sprinkling on just before serving / eating. All very fresh. And they look neat!
Ingredients
for the ramp (wild garlic)
500 grams coarse salt
1 cup wild garlic leaves, no stems, chopped
for the chili
500 grams coarse salt
1 cup fresh chilis (I used a combination of habaneros and fresnos)
for the meyer lemon
500 grams coarse salt
the peels of 5-6 meyer lemons (no flesh or pith)
Directions
Make each of these flavored salt types individually (obviously just make the flavor you want; no need to make all three). The process is the same for all of them, so I have just written one recipe.
Wash the wild garlic, chilis or meyer lemons. Pat it dry and remove the stems from the ramps. If you are makining the chili salt, remove the seeds and ribs from the peppers. For the lemon salt, using a peeler, carefully remove the outer peel, trying not to get any white pitch. For each of these, you should have 3/4 to 1 cup of ramp leaves, peppers or lemon pitch.
Place into a food processor and run it on max speed until you got a rough pesto like consistency. Add about 100g (1/3 cup) of the salt to the puree. Do not add more than that. Process at max speed until it forms a creamy paste.
Pour the remaining salt into a big bowl and add the salt paste. Take a fork and mix it until it is evenly combined. It will look like damp, green sand (or red sand, or yellos sand).
Line a rimmed baking sheet with foil and then parchment paper. Heat oven to 175F. Spread the damp salt evenly on it. Let it dry in the oven for 2 hours. Let it cool down before transferring into an air tight container.
