Though I made five different flavored salts at once, I will be doing a post for each flavor separately.

Using wet ingredients to flavor salt requires a fair bit more time.  The typical recommended ratio for a red wine salt was 3 cups wine to 1 cup salt.  I chose to use a locally made raspberry wine I found, instead.  Most bottles are about 3 cups, but we had to taste it, too!  Which means the actual amount of wine we used as about 2 1/2 cups total.  Of course, feel free to adjust quantities to your taste!

Also, the raspberry wine tasted much like the raspberry wine my father used to make!  I’m not a big wine person, but I think we have a winner, here!

The wine will be reduced to a syrup, which means 3 cups of wine works out to roughly 3 Tbsp syrup.

Raspberry Wine Salt

Ingredients:

• 3 cups raspberry wine
• 2 cups Kosher salt
  

Also needed:

• baking tray lined with parchment paper
• saucepan large enough to allow roam for foaming
• very strong stirring spoon
• food processor or coffee/spice grinder
  
• jar with lid
  

Step 1: pour the win into a saucepan and bring to a boil.  Reduce heat to a gentle boil.  Continue cooking until the wine is reduced to a thick syrup.

For the raspberry wine we used, it took about 45 minutes to reduce to a syrup.  Near the end, it began to really bubble and foam.

Once reduced to a thick syrup, remove from heat and let cool briefly.

Step 2: stir in the salt and mix to thoroughly coat the salt with the syrup.  This is where I had to switch to the stronger mixing spoon!

Step 3: spread the salt and wine mixture onto the parchment paper lined baking sheet and spread evenly.  Place into the oven with the light on and the temperature at the lowest setting.  After an hour or so, turn off the oven but leave the light on.  Leave overnight to dry. 

Note: you can take the baking sheet out every now and then and turn the salt – this can be made easier by using the parchment paper to fold the salt over itself, then spreading it evenly again.  After doing this, reheat the oven to the lowest setting again, then shut it off, leaving the light to help maintain the heat.

Step 4: once thoroughly dry, remove the baking sheet from the oven.  Break apart the salt and crumble it with your hands as much as possible.  There will still be some clumps.

Step 5: using a food processor or spice grinder, pulse the salt in batches, just enough to break up the clumps.

Step 6: after processing the salt mixture, transfer it to a jar, or divide among small gift jars, and seal.

Links for all five flavors made:

Rosemary Lemon
Scarborough Fair Garlic
Mushroom
Raspberry Wine
Bacon

Though I made five different flavored salts at once, I will be doing a post for each flavor separately.

Bacon Salt

Ingredients:

• 1 package thin cut bacon, cooked, cooled and crumbled
  
• 2 cups Kosher salt
  

Also needed:

• food processor, coffee/spice grinder
• small rubber spatula
  
• jar with lid, large enough to have room to shake the salt, or a mixing bowl
  
• a larger funnel or canning funnel would also be handy

Note: the bacon needs to be cooked until very crisp, then drained of as much fat as possible.  I find the easier way to do this is to cook the bacon in the oven.  Line a baking tray (a 13×9 inch jelly roll pan works well for this) with aluminum foil and top with an oven safe cooling rack.  Lay your bacon slices out on the rack.  It may take some finagling to get them all to fit!  Cook the bacon in a 350F oven until dark and crisp, flipping the slices about half way through.  Once cooked, place the bacon on paper towels to get rid of any surface fat.  Go ahead and crumble it up with the paper towel in the process.  Leave the bacon on paper towel to cool completely – I left it overnight.

Step 1: using grinder or processor, pulse the bacon pieces in batches until they are quite fine. 

Note: the bacon may quickly become paste-like, and stick to the sides.  Use the rubber spatula to scrape it off in between batches.

Step 2: measure 2 cups Kosher salt into a jar.

Step 3: add the bacon bits to the salt and shake.

Note: it may be necessary to use a mixing bowl to combine the salt and bacon.  Use your hands to rub the bacon into the salt and break up any clumps, then transfer to a jar, or divide into small gift jars.

Due to the fat content that may still be on the bacon, this salt is best stored in the refrigerator.  

Links for all five flavors made:
Rosemary Lemon
Scarborough Fair Garlic
Mushroom
Raspberry Wine
Bacon

Though I made five different flavored salts at once, I will be doing a post for each flavor separately.

Dry salts are made with a basic ratio of 1 tsp flavors to 1/4 cup coarse salt.  Feel free to adjust to your own personal tastes!  For the salt, you can use Kosher salt, pickling salt, sea salt, or any coarse salt you prefer.  I used Kosher salt, which is fine enough to not need further grinding, but coarse enough to maintain a nice texture.

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Note: you can use any dried mushroom you prefer for this mix.  I used a gourmet blend from Costco. 

Mushroom Salt

Ingredients:

• dried mushrooms
• Kosher salt
  

Also needed:

• food processor, coffee/spice grinder or mortar and pestle
• jar with lid, large enough to have room to shake the salt
• a larger funnel or canning funnel would also be handy

Note: you will need about 4 tsp powdered mushroom for 1 cup of salt.  I used quite a bit more dried mushroom than needed for my 2 cups of salt.  After grinding it down to a powder, I measured out what I needed for the amount of salt I had, then put the rest into a sealed jar to use as flavoring during cooking.

Step 1: grind the drive mushrooms to a powder. 

Step 2: measure the Kosher salt into a jar.

Step 3: measure our your mushroom powder and add it to the salt.  Cover and shake thoroughly.

Step 4: Label your jar and set aside for about a week, out of direct sunlight, to give the flavors time to meld, giving the jar a thorough shake on a regular basis.

If desired, measure out portions of the combined mixture into gifting jars.

Links for all five flavors made:
Rosemary Lemon
Scarborough Fair Garlic
Mushroom
Raspberry Wine
Bacon

Though I made five different flavored salts at once, I will be doing a post for each flavor separately.

Dry salts are made with a basic ratio of 1 tsp flavors to 1/4 cup coarse salt.  Feel free to adjust to your own personal tastes!  For the salt, you can use Kosher salt, pickling salt, sea salt, or any coarse salt you prefer.  I used Kosher salt, which is fine enough to not need further grinding, but coarse enough to maintain a nice texture.

Rosemary Lemon Salt

Ingredients:

• lemon zest
• dried rosemary leaves
• Kosher salt
  

Also needed:

• food processor, coffee/spice grinder or mortar and pestle
• jar with lid, large enough to have room to shake the salt
• a larger funnel or canning funnel would also be handy

Step 1: measure out the lemon zest and rosemary leaves (see note below).

Note: For 1 cup of salt, you will want about 4 tsp ground rosemary/lemon mixture.  I made mine using 2 cups of salt, so I used about 3 rounded tablespoons total (1 Tbsp = 3 tsp) of the lemon zest and rosemary leaves, to get approximately 8 tsp after grinding.

Step 2: grind the rosemary leaves and lemon zest together, to a fairly fine powder.

Step 3: measure out your salt into a jar.

Step 4: add ground rosemary and lemon zest to the salt.  Close the jar and shake thoroughly.

Step 5: Label your jar and set aside for about a week, out of direct sunlight, to give the flavors time to meld, giving the jar a thorough shake on a regular basis.

If desired, measure out portions of the combined mixture into gifting jars.

Links for all five flavors made:
Rosemary Lemon
Scarborough Fair Garlic
Mushroom
Raspberry Wine
Bacon