Homemade Lemon Pepper
Your first question is probably, why? Well, for me this sounds good because the bottled lemon pepper is not where I live, and I use it a lot (a good friend in the states has sent me two bottles). This is worth a try at least! Now for me, lemons, I have never seen the regulation sized lemons like the states, but I have seen lemons grown here in Thailand, in the village where I live, and they were huge! Think 1 kilo (2 lb lemons!). As a variant, I will try this with lime, Lime Pepper! If you add salt, then you have Lemon or Lime Pepper Seasoning.
Ingredients
- 5 lemons
- ⅓ cup ground pepper, see Step 1
- ¼ cup kosher salt, only if making the if making the seasoning version
Instructions
- For the pepper, get yourself several jars with the grinder attachment of black pepper or pepper medley, which is black, pink, green, and white pepper. Grind that into a measuring cup to get ⅓ cup. Place that in a mixing bowl.
- Zest the lemons, add to the mixing bowl with the pepper and mix together.
- Heat your oven to the lowest setting, line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Spread the pepper and zest mixture out on the parchment paper evenly. When the oven is warmed, place the baking sheet in the oven. Your goal is to dry out the zest.
- Bake until the zest is completely dry, toss the pepper and zest several times and smooth out to an even layer and continue until the zest is completely dry, about 1 hour.
- After the zest is completely dry, run through a spice grinder, in batches if needed until the mixture resembles, fine sand, or you know, lemon pepper.
- For the salt, this is optional. If you are avoiding salt, simply do not add it and you will have Lemon Pepper. If you add it, start with less than stated and taste and adjust to your liking. Simply mix the salt into the Lemon Pepper, and you will then have what I will call Lemon Pepper Seasoning.
Notes
Variant: 1. Use lime zest in place of lemon zest (I will try this).
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