Witchy Holiday Gifting: Infused Salts and Sugars
To kick off our homemade holiday miniseries, we are going to be exploring how to make your very own gourmet flavored salt and sugar blends. If you go into practically any higher end kitchen shop or grocery store, you will find at least a handful of these types of blends. Their popularity and variety makes them a wonderful gifting option, especially when you find out how simple they are to create in your own kitchen! Once you learn how to blend these, your imagination is truly your only limit, both flavor-wise and magically.
Choosing The Perfect Salt or Sugar
Depending on what flavors or intentions you are choosing to imbue into your blends, you will want to consider different varieties of salts or sugars. One of the first options you will have to look is the type of salt or sugar you want to infuse, as each different variety has different flavors, textures and energetic usages. I typically decide which product i’m going to use depending on the flavors I am infusing into the salt or sugar and whether I will be intending to use it as a seasoning in a food or a finishing to top something off. If you are also intending the use of this product in ritual practice, the origin of the raw product may also be a bigger factor you will want to consider. Below you will find a quick guide to the differing intentions that some of the most popular varieties of salts and sugars will bring to your final products.
Sea Salt: As the name suggests, it is a wonderful salt to use when looking to imbue your product with water elemental energy or to honor water deities. Beyond that, it is the OG salt for protection and purification.
Fleur De Sel (“Flower of Salt”): This refined and delicately flavored variety of sea salt is a bit harder to find in your average store, however it brings a wonderful softer energy to your magical workings. This type of salt is intended to use as a finishing touch, so keep that in mind when infusing.
Pink Himalayan: Rosy hued and sporting a stronger salinity than sea salts, pink Himalayan salt carries with it the energies of the deep earth from which it comes from. This salt gets its signature color from the iron in it, which I associate with strength, grounding and warding energies. This salt variety is also is beneficial in workings focused on love and relationships; whether the intent is bettering a relationship with others or with yourself.
Kosher Salt: This popular and readily found variety of sea salt is an excellent choice for infusing due to its flakey texture and moderate salinity and holds particularly strong energy for absorption of negativity and purification.
Fine Granulated Cane Sugar: The standard when it comes to baking and sweetening of various other foods and beverages, cane sugar is a great option when looking to infuse as it takes to flavors and intentions easily. While salts are generally used in spellwork to expel and purge, sugar holds energy for attraction of the “sweeter” things in life (forgive the pun). I like to use organic, less processed versions of cane sugar, especially for this method since it will impart my intentions that I imbue into it more purely.
Coconut (Palm) Sugar: Derived from the coconut palm, this is a caramel colored and flavored variety of sugar that holds energy for healing, protection, and moon focused spell working. Due to this and the connection with the coconut fruit, I also identify this type of sugar as holding special power in fertility workings.
Turbinado Sugar: Coarser in texture and slightly caramelized in flavor, turbinado is a lovely sugar to infuse for topping baked goods or garnishing drinks. Turbinado holds similar intentions to granulated cane sugar, however because of the added molasses content left in the product throughout processing, it also holds additional energy for spellwork pertaining to attracting love and money.
Intro to Infusing
Once you’ve deciding on which salts or sugars you want to infuse, now comes the time to do the thing! While infusing is a simple process, there are a few key things to know when starting out to help you succeed.
You will want a nice large area to set up your workspace and set out all of the different components and tools you are going to be working with. Some basic tools you might want to have on hand are measuring cups/spoons, cutting board, small knife, funnel, and bowls. Organization is super helpful to ensure that the process goes quickly and smoothly, especially if you are making a bunch of these for gifts. Be sure to keep your workspace clean and very importantly, dry, to avoid any contamination or clumping/dissolving.
If you are using any “wet” ingredients, such as fresh herbs, extracts, or citrus zest, you will want to have your oven preheated to the lowest temp possible (in my oven it is 150 degrees F.) to help you dry out the salt or sugar before storage. Simply take your salt or sugar mixture and spread it out onto a sheet pan lined with parchment and place it in the oven until dried; depending on the moisture in the blend this could take anywhere from 10-20 minutes. You will want to watch the sugar carefully if needing to dry it out to make sure it does not begin to melt at all; you can turn off the oven when drying the sugars to give some insurance against this. You can also pre-dry fresh herbs or zests if you so choose, though I prefer the previous method flavorwise.
If you choose ingredients that need to be ground or crushed (i.e. peppercorns or dried flowers/fruits), you can either use an electric spice grinder or a mortar and pestle depending on how fine you’d like the final product to be.
I use my mortar and pestle to incorporate my blends, however if you don’t have one or it is too small to mix in, you can also use a large bowl. You just want to ensure that the blends are thoroughly mixed
When choosing a vessel to store your blends in, you will want to make sure that it is one that seals well, either with a tight fitting cap or a rubber lined clamping lid. Alternatively, you can package these in resealable plastic bags. Either of these options will help to ensure that the final product is kept away from moisture and avoids any spillage. Aesthetically, I adore glass lidded jars, especially when I am giving these away as holiday gifts, however you can use whatever type of container you fancy!
Get Creative: Flavor Favorites
While the sky’s the limit to what flavor combinations you can use in your own blends, here are a few of my personal favorites and the intentions the bring with them:
“Everything” Salt Blend: Yep, just like the bagel! Featuring onion, garlic, sesame, poppy, and caraway, this is a great blend for drawing in more opportunities your way, especially in the realms of money and career.
4 Tbsp coarse sea salt
2 Tbsp dehydrated onion
2 Tbsp dehydrated garlic
4 tsp white sesame seeds
4 tsp poppy seeds
2 tsp caraway seeds
Seven Pepper Salt Blend: Beyond packing a punch flavorwise with seven unique peppers, this blend is a wonderful one to incorporate into spellwork that is focused on fiery passion or when looking for particularly fierce protective energies. If you cannot find some of the more exotic peppers for this blend, you can absolutely sub others you enjoy.
4 Tbsp coarse sea salt
1 tsp black peppercorns, coarsely ground
1 tsp white peppercorns, coarsely ground
1 tsp green peppercorns, coarsely ground
1 1/2 tsp Sichuan pepper berries, crushed
1 1/2 tsp dried Aleppo pepper
1 tsp chipotle pepper powder
1 tsp smoked paprika
Lemon Herb Salt: This refreshing blend is perfect for both the everyday witchy kitchen and ritual usage due to the strong protective and purifying elements of the fresh rosemary, dill, lemon zest with the foundation of sea salt. Note: This blend requires drying in the oven.
4 Tbsp sea salt
2 Tbsp fresh dill, chopped
2 Tbsp fresh rosemary, chopped
Zest of one lemon
Espresso Vanilla Salt: Not your average salt blend at all! This interesting combination of sweeter and salty flavors can be used as a finishing salt on both roasted meats and baked goods alike where you want to energize spellwork pertaining to love, luck, comfort, and joy. Note: This blend will need to be dried in the oven.
5 Tbsp fleur de sel or other finishing salt
2 Tbsp espresso powder
1 Tbsp vanilla bean paste
Strawberry Rose Sugar: Perfectly pink courtesy of the combination of tart strawberry and floral rose, this sugar is a beautiful addition topping on delicate pastries, sweetening teas, or even as an indulgent and enchanting treat sprinkled onto your morning oatmeal or yogurt! This would be a beautiful blend to use in any love or beauty spellwork, especially at times when you are looking at boosting self love.
1/4 cup fine granulated sugar
1/4 cup freeze dried strawberries, finely crushed
2 Tbsp culinary grade rose petals, finely crushed
Vanilla Sugar: Sweet and comforting homemade vanilla sugar makes for a lovely treat sprinkled on just about any baked good you could think of, not to mention is an amazing upgrade to regular sugar in your teas, iced teas, and lemonades. The gentle floral energies of this blend make it a perfect ingredient to utilize when performing spellwork focused on love, harmony, and luck. Note: This blend will need to be dried in the oven.
1/4 cup fine granulated sugar or turbinado sugar
3 tbsp vanilla bean paste
Vanilla bean, cut in half or thirds and placed in jar
Lavender Sugar: Floral, but not overly perfumey, lavender sugar is a wonderful sweetener for your nighttime cup of tea, especially since it holds energy for calming and aids in achieving a peaceful sleep.
1/4 cup fine granulated sugar
2 Tbsp culinary grade dried lavender
Citrus Mojito Sugar: Refreshing and zesty, this sunny sugar can easily be incorporated into cocktails or mocktails or used in all sorts of baked goods to imbue them with energies of health, happiness, and clarity.
1/4 cup fine granulated sugar
1 Tbsp fresh mint, finely chopped
2 tsp lime zest
1 tsp lemon zest
1 tsp orange zest
1 tsp grapefruit zest
