I lived on the borders of France and Italy for several years.  Every Friday was market day in Ventimiglia, Italy across the boarder from Menton where I lived.  The French like to call it “Marché des Theives”.  Market day was my favorite day and Ventimiglia had the biggest open air market in all of Europe. It had everything from food, fresh vegetables, the finest pasta, cheeses, and last years fashion from Milan and Paris  You could live like a king or in my case a queen for half the price you pay in the stores.

But one thing that you could always find at the markets from Paris to Rome was people selling different herbal salts for cooking.  The French are “tre fou”, crazy, about different herbal salts.  It is easy enough to make your own combinations at home out of your herbal garden. It can be as simple as sage and rosemary or more complex combinations.

You begin by using a coarse salt. I found some Mediterranean sea salt but any course high quality salt can be used.  Then I pick fresh herbs from the garden this time I used a combination of rosemary, sage, thyme, and marjoram.  I do not measure I just pick a few sprigs of this or that. Then I take the leaves from the woody stems and place the herbal leaves in with  pile of course salt started chopping the herbs into the salt.  You are finished when have a fine texture of herbs worked into the salt. You then want to put it on plate and leave it in the open air a few days for drying. Once dried it can be stored in clean glass jars and used as a seasoning for cooking.  I do not measure when I am making herbal salts but if you need a ratio I would say use one part herbs to 3 parts salt.