Sicilian Homemade Gifts: Lemon and Orange Salt

Every year I like to prepare some Christmas foodie gifts for my friends, homemade biscuits, Modica's chocolate, jam, preserves...it makes me happy to do something for the people I love and hope they like it too. One of my favorite and most successful one is Sicilian citrus flavored salt, last Saturday my kitchen smelt like an orangerie.....just wonderful!
I prepared three different kinds, lemon, orange and kumquats. I then placed them in some glass recycled soda bottles I had saved during the year.
It is really easy, all you need is organic, unwaxed citrus fruit, good sea-salt and a mixer.

I blend the fresh zest with salt and then dry the mixture in the oven. Other recipe tell you to dry the rind in the oven first and then blend it with salt afterwards. I tried both methods and found that when you use the first one, the salt absorbs the essential oils of the fresh citrus rind and you get an even stronger flavor.

Ingredients:

Lemon salt
The rind of two lemons (organic and unwaxed)
6-7 spoons of course sea salt

Orange salt
The rind of a medium orange (organic and unwaxed)
6-7 spoons of course sea salt

Kumquat salt
The rind of 6-8 kumquat (organic and unwaxed)
6-7 spoons of course sea salt

Remove the top layer of the citrus rind with a vegetable peeler. Apply only enough pressure to take off the top portion of the rind. Avoid peeling off the pith inside. Place the rind and the salt in a blender and mix until the rind has disappeared in the mixture. Spread it on a tray on baking paper and place in a preheated oven at 50C° for 10-15 minutes (kumquat take a little longer, around 20 minutes). Take it out of the oven, let it cool and place in a jar or bottle.

This is a great present even for those friends who are not that much into cooking. The lemon flavoured salt can effortlessly turn the simplest piece of grilled meat or fish into a gourmet treat. I prefer the kumquat salt on pork and often use the orange one whenever a pinch of salt is required in cake recipes.

Easy to make, nice to give as a gift, but above all, fantastic to use in your cooking......hope your kitchen will soon smell like orange paradise too!