Homemade Rosemary Salt

A DIY pantry staple that's too good not to share.

Whenever I oven-dry rosemary from the garden, you can pretty much bet I'm mixing up a batch of this homemade rosemary salt next.

One of my favorite seasonings for anything savory, this fragrant DIY pantry staple also makes a fabulous addition to any gift basket.

Rosemary is an excellent flavor enhancer for anything from steak to salmon to soup, but sometimes the long, stiff leaves can be an unwelcome addition to a dish. This is where rosemary salt comes in. The woody leaves are processed down to a manageable size, making this savory seasoning a hero for dishes with a more delicate texture.

Here's what you'll need:

A food processor

1 cup dried rosemary (about 0.75 ounce or 24 grams)

2 cups kosher salt (18 ounces or 512 grams)

12-15 drops rosemary essential oil

Five 4-oz mason jars

Process all ingredients together until the rosemary is well-minced and evenly distributed.

Divide the rosemary evenly among the mason jars to store or share. Adorable and delicious!

Notes:

You can actually make the salt with fresh rosemary if desired (use a scant, loosely packed cup of fresh rosemary and add an extra 1-2 drops of rosemary essential oil), but drying the rosemary first makes the leaves so much easier to remove from the stems, and I like the results a little bit more.

I use freshly dried rosemary from the garden, which tends to pack a little less densely in a measuring cup. Dried rosemary from the store--or even home-dried rosemary that has already been tightly compacted in storage containers--tends to pack more densely, so you might not need a full cup. As I wrote this, I realized it would be so much better to post this recipe with weight-based measurements for accuracy, so you'll see those in the ingredient list!

This recipe calls for a lot of rosemary. If you plan to dry your own rosemary, you will need roughly enough sprigs to fill 3 baking sheets (in single layers). If using store-bought, you will need roughly three containers' worth, depending on the size of whatever brand you go with. I like to make enough rosemary salt to keep some and share some, but if making this recipe only for yourself, the ingredients can easily be divided by 3 to keep quantities more reasonable!

Use your homemade rosemary salt to enliven the flavors of anything from roasted meats or veggies to gravies or soups. I love what it brings to my veggie gravy!