Maldon in Essex is home to the famous sea salt company of the same name and this month’s recipes are on this theme…it’s amazing how a little flavour in salt can transform the humble chip or nut…you can try experimenting too…lemon, lavender, garlic, celery… they’re really easy!

Rosemary Lemon Sea Salt

Ingredients
1 cup coarse sea salt
3 tablespoons fresh rosemary leaves
Zest from one lemon, grated

Directions
Combine ingredients in a food processor and pulse until all ingredients are of similar size and combined. If you do not have a food processor, chop the ingredients used for flavour as small as possible.
Combine the flavouring with the salt in a bowl and stir well until combined.
Pour onto a baking sheet or a piece of parchment paper and allow to air dry for 2 days, stirring frequently.  Alternatively, you can also “heat dry” in the oven at 170°C/325°F/Gas Mark 3 or lower for 2 hours, stirring frequently.
Once dry, store in an air-tight containerSpiced Glazed Walnuts

Ingredients
a drizzle of olive oil
20g butter
200g walnut halves
2 tsp brown sugar
1 tsp cayenne pepper
3 sprigs of rosemary, finely chopped
1 tsp Maldon sea salt
black pepper

These are great warm, served as a bar snack or tossed through a salad, or served cold with cheese…

Directions

1.  Heat the olive oil and butter in a large pan over a medium heat
2.  Add the walnut halves and the brown sugar, and toss them together for a few minutes, until caramelised
3.  Stir in the cayenne pepper and rosemary and season with salt and pepper
4.  Stir everything together gently over a medium heat for a further 1–2 minutes, then tip into a bowl and serveOR… if you’ve made the Rosemary Lemon Sea Salt… use this!