Before the first frost, what do you do with the last of the basil from your garden? Do you make batches of pesto to freeze? Have you ever thought about making some basil infused salt?
I recently had the good fortune to stay at the Ritz-Carlton in Amelia Island, Florida. The Ritz on Amelia Island has a fabulous selection of infused salts for sale. Trying some of the salts from their collection, and watching the kitchen staff demonstrate how it is made, inspired me to use my ‘last of the season’ basil to make some of my own infused salt!
Basil salt makes the perfect seasoning for a tomato and fresh mozzarella salad when the basil from the garden has long gone…and, when packaged, it makes a great holiday gift as well!
It is super simple to create a basil infused salt!
First, I pulsed ½ cup kosher salt and ½ cup packed basil leaves together in the food processor. I dried this mixture by spreading it on a baking sheet in a 225-degree oven (tossing it every 15 minutes) for about 40 minutes – until dry.
After letting it cool, I pulsed the mixture one last time to make the salt extra fine. Of course, you can control the coarseness by the number of pulses used.
For packaging, I used some glass tubes I had purchased for another DIY. I think three tubes tied together are a great way to package the salt as a gift. If you try making some other herbed salt flavors, you can even package three different flavors of salt to gift as a trio! If you would rather use a more conventional container, small Weck jars or glass spice jars would also look super cute!
I hope I have inspired you to use some herbs from your garden to create some infused salt!
Thanks for stopping by!
Remember to take pleasure in simple things, Jackie
