For the past few weeks, I’ve had a series of small bowls living at the end of my counter. They each contain a different citrus salt: grapefruit, blood orange, Meyer lemon, Kaffir lime. The levels of each go up and down as I juice a lemon, or eat a grapefruit, and add zest and salt to the pile, or pull out a pinch of the fragrant zest to add to a soup, curry or batch of scones.
It may seem disingenuous to call this process “lazy” when most people simply throw away citrus peels. But honestly: that’s just silly. There are about a million great uses for citrus peel, and as long as you have a good zester, this is one of the easiest. And while a dedicated batch of citrus salt doesn’t exactly break the bank, time & effort-wise, this method works much better with the citrus season rituals of grapefruit for breakfast, squeeze of lime on your lunchtime curry, and evening cocktails calling for Meyer lemon juice.
The process is simple: zest the citrus fruit (every citrus fruit, unless you are making marmalade, of course) before you use it. Sometimes, you’ll just want to toss the zest into whatever you’re making, along with the juice or fruit. Other times, you don’t need or want the zest just then: so pop it in a bowl with a bit of salt. There’s no cooking or dehydrating, no measuring or grinding: just toss it a bit between your fingers, to break up clumps and make sure the salt will work to dry the zest. Then just let it sit there, until you use it in a recipe, or add more to the bowl, or both.
In this particular process, I find I can use a lot less salt: about half zest and half salt. This results in a bright, vibrant citrus salt: really more of a salt-preserved zest, as the citrus flavor outstrips the salt flavor in most uses. Works well when you want that punch of citrus but don’t want to add too much salt to the dish. I used a very basic flaky kosher salt here, but you could certainly use fancier salt, or a mix of fine, flaky and coarse. Just make sure that you mix the zest well with salt right after zesting, so it does not have time to develop mold.
How should you use your citrus salt? I toss it in everything, really. Soups, stews and curries, but also as a finishing salt on eggs or salad, sprinkled on baked goods like scones, cookies or muffins, or as the salt (double the amount) in a yeast bread. Meyer lemon salt is brilliant on top of sea salt cream caramels, and a little pinch of grapefruit salt on chocolate ice cream is a wonder. I use a generous handful to salt a roasted chicken and, since Kaffir lime leaves are hard for me to find, I’m especially excited about having Kaffir lime salt on hand for Thai green curry. Any dish where you might want a bit of citrus zest: sprinkle, taste and sprinkle some more.
Lazy Citrus Salt
INGREDIENTS
- citrus zest (preferably from organic or unsprayed fruit)
- salt (I used Diamond Crystal flaky kosher salt)
METHODS
- Scrub and dry the fruit. Remove all zest, ideally with a Microplane zester or the fine holes on a box grater. In a small bowl, combine zest with a roughly equal amount of salt. Rub between your fingers a few times, to coat all of the zest in salt, until it feels like slightly damp sand. Allow to dry in open air, adding more zest and salt as you use additional fruit. Prior to long-term storage, you may want to rub citrus salt between your palms, over a large bowl, for a more homogeneous texture.
OPTIONS
- There is no need to keep types of citrus separate: toss orange, lemon, lime zest, whatever you have, into a single bowl of salt and make a mixed citrus zest. Sometimes, during citrus season, I just have a single bowl that I keep adding zest and salt to, then using in recipes, so it is ever evolving.
- Dried herbs & chiles are a nice touch, if you feel like getting fancy, and/or want something extra special for gifting. I may add some Thai chile flakes to my Kaffir lime salt, and I’ve made orange-rosemary and lemon-coriander this year.
- It bears repeating: for edible citrus zest applications, it is best to source organic, unsprayed, or foraged/wild fruit if you possibly can. In general, the peel of most conventionally-farmed fruits contains the largest concentration of pesticides, fungicides or other chemicals used in treating the fruit. Since citrus peels are not typically eaten in the US, data on pesticide load are reported on the flesh of the fruit, and are an unreliable indicator of pesticide load present in the peel.
- I should note that the same process works with sugar; you’ll just need more of it, since sugar is much less drying than salt. But if baking is your thing, by all means: fill a quart jar half full with sugar, then add zest and shake, shake, shake. Add more sugar when it seems to get too wet. Or, do both! I’ve currently got grapefruit salt and sugar in bowls on the counter.
STORE
In an airtight container, at room temperature, for about 1 year.
SEASON
Winter.
localkitchenblog.com 
This looks amazing! I’m going to try making it too! Love the color combo! xo
Do you use organic citrus for this? I read on a box of oranges recently the chemicals they spray in transit along with the wax and I’m wondering if you prep the skins in any way if it isn’t organic citrus you’re using. Suggestions?
Hi C,
As you’ll see under “Options,” I always recommend organic or unsprayed fruit if you’ll be eating the zest or rind. You are right: conventionally farmed citrus are heavily sprayed, yet the pesticide loads are only reported for the inside fruit, so it’s best to choose organic for this.
I just bought a bag of key limes…now I know what I’m going to do with them!
Love this and have to try it myself now. Thanks for sharing. 🙂
You have a gorgeous site here.
What a great idea!
so clever, great idea!
Love this! I’ve made citrus salt in the past but always as a special project. I never really thought to use the zest of citrus intended for something else. Thanks!
I know it is a long way away, but I think I might make citrus salts for Christmas gifts! Thanks for the great idea!
I just did this with orange, but never thought of grapefruit!!! Great idea!
Ah! This looks fantastic, and so pretty. Things like this make me sad that I don’t live in a citrusy area, but if I can get my hands on a large amount at any point, I’m doing this for sure.
Brilliant! Easy and efficient not lazy! I’m all over it! Thanx for the inspiration!
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I’m sodium restricted and this would just encourage me to use way too much salt, but I’m certainly going to mix my orange zest with some sugar for my tea. I love vanilla sugar in my coffee, too. Maybe I’ll try a more complex flavor and mix the two together! I think of these as “dry extracts”, which is essentially what they become.
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Do you experiment with different types of salt for this as well?
I have, definitely. If you take a look at the Meyer salt recipe or fennel frond salt, you’ll see different amounts & combinations: coarse grey Burgundy salt, flaky Maldon salt, my standard “table” sea salt from Rhode Island. These particular ones I kept simple, because I felt like the main flavor thrust is the citrus, not the salt, and that the flaky but-not-overly-flaky texture of Diamond Crystal was perfect for drying out the zest without having to add a lot of salt. Nevertheless, any combination of salts will work and it can be fun to adjust and experiment.
Why a brilliant idea! 🙂
WHAT a great idea. I’m already excited to try this! I’m thinking lemon salt (and fresh thyme?) on salmon; lime salt, chipotle and butter on local sweet corn this summer…. And I’m excited to try it with different salts! Currently we’re using a black salt from Hawaii that I just love. Thanks for this!!!
This is awesome! It’s so easy and can be used to add so much flavor to something simple or complex! Will definitely be doing this!
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I am in love with peppy flavors and this short cut recipe of lazy citrus salt would add more peppy taste to my taste buds. I’ll try it for sure.
Great idea! I have over 20 citrus varieties in my back yard and I do use lemon zest a lot–this will give me some great new uses for my mandarins, oranges and grapefruit!
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I will definitely try this – I might add sage too. I make my own “mediterranean mix” with sea salt, oregano, wild thyme, sumac, sage, rosemary and laurel. I use coarse unrefined sea salt and grind it with the herbs in small quantities with a stone mortar and pestle.
Reblogged this on North Country Fare and commented:
This may be my new obsession…
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I made basil salt and rosemary salt this way and absolutely love this! Can;t wait to make the citrus salts and sugars.
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Most inspirational! Thank you!
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