How would you make lemon pepper?

[vilasman]

Any ideas, I can't find lemon pepper corns in any of the stores I have looked

 

[buckytom]

dry some finely grated lemon zest, add cracked white pepper, and a little citric acid. if you want a little more flavor, add finely chopped lemon grass and some celery seed.
you could also add dried herbs like oregano, basil, coriander, and parsley.

 

[Hopz]

sorry, you won't find any lemon pepercorns, but you can add lemon zest to pepper...
easy peasy...

 

[Michael in FtW]

Yep, like Hopz and buckytom said ... Lemon Pepper is a seasoning (a blend of stuff), not a single spice (like peppercorns). Looking at the label of the jar I have (Adams) it contains: salt, malabar black pepper and other spices, natural flavors, MSG, onion, garlic, citric acid, calcium sterate, and yellow colorings. Don't know all of the ingredients but Mrs. Dash has a version that is advertised as: Zesty lemon peel, blended with cracked black pepper, coriander, oregano, and other spices (I couldn't find the actual ingredients panel listing). Sorry - I'm too lazy to go to the store tonight just to look it up ... but you can check it out the next time you're at the store.

Don't know where you live - but you should be able to find Lemon Pepper in any gorcery store (in America) in the spice section.

If you want to make it yourself - I did find one site with a recipe for Homemade Lemon-Pepper Seasoning - but it sounds kinda bland IMHO.

 

[ironchef]

If you're going to go through all that trouble to make homemade lemon pepper, I would rather use the effort and make flavored salt instead. It's more versatile and it tastes better. You can always add the fresh cracked pepper later.

BT was on the right track though. I've made a flavored citrus sea salt using lemon, lime, and orange zest, lavender, mint, and parsley. Depending on the dish we may make a small stripe or pyramid of salt on the plate, seperate from the food. It can be a cool novelty dish because it lets the guest flavor each piece of food themselves. Homemade flavored salts are better of being used as a finishing salt, like fleur de sal.

 

[amber]

Personally I would rather buy it ready made. I use McCormicks brand. It contains lemon peel, black pepper, cumin, red pepper, oregano, thyme, garlic, onion, citric acid and paprika ( this is a salt free version).

 

[GB]

I buy mine from pensys. I am not sure what is in it other than black pepper and lemon peel though.

I agree I would rather buy it than make it.

 

[buckytom]

making it is very easy, and tastes better imo, because it is made fresh. do you use freshly cracked pepper, or stuff that is gorund and sits around for a millenia?

just grate some lemon peel, more than you think you need with a good microplane zester, and spread it out and let it dry. you can speed the process in an oven or dehydrator. store this in the fridge, then when ready to make the lemon pepper, freshly crack some pepper and blend with the lemon zest. add a pinch of citric acid for extra pucker.

 

[jennyema]

I buy mine from pensys. I am not sure what is in it other than black pepper and lemon peel though.

I agree I would rather buy it than make it.

Penzey's Sunny Florida seasoning rocks. It has lemon peel, orange peel, pepper and garlic!

 

[vilasman]

Well I have the zest of one lemon in a jar with about 5 oz of peppercorns.
I think I am going to put the juice of about 1/2 that lemon into the jar and some salt, but i am in a quandry about how much salt to put in it and what other spices to add

 

[jennyema]

I don't think I would put lemon juice in.

 

[vilasman]

I am glad i read this first, ok, so what is this citric that folks mentioned above?

 

[GB]

Citric acid. It is in powder form.

 

[jennyema]

It's dry citric acid. Gives a sour taste. Some people call it sour salt. It's used a lot in spice blends where lemon or orange rind is used to give a more complete citus flavor.

You can buy it in some supermarkets and from baking supply houses. Pharmacies may carry it, too.

 

[buckytom]

way more than anyone needs to know about citric acid: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Citric_acid

as gb said, you can buy it in powder or granular/crystal form for food applications.

check this out, scroll down for citric acid: http://www.bulkfoods.com/spices.asp?referer=gocitaci3-1

be careful, don't buy too much. it can be used in explosives and drug applications, so you may get a visit from the fbi or atf.

 

[ironchef]

Citric acid also helps homemade herb infused oils (i.e. basil, chive, etc.) retain their color. You only need a dash, say 1/8 to 1/4 tsp. per 1 cup of oil.

 

[vilasman]

Thanks folks for the citric acid knowledge I'll be buying some tomorrow. I will also zest another lemon or 2 and make lemon aid. I want my lemon pepper pretty lemony and not very salty.

 

[vilasman]

Also am I correct in assuming that I should use kosher salt in my lemon pepper and not sea salt?

 

[daisy]

The peppercorns are not likely to absorb the flavour of the lemon rind. Lemon pepper is a combination of 2 herbs - peppercorns and lemon. Grind the peppercorns, then stir in the dried lemon rind. You can add some salt to taste if you want, but it's probably better (if you're going to be using salt) to add it separately to each dish - do the taste test before serving.

You don't need to use lemon rind, either. You can use any lemon-flavoured herb, such as lemon verbena, or lemon myrtle, or even lemon geranium (pelargonium). Each has a lemony flavour, but each is unique in its undertones. You might like to experiment with lemon thyme, or lemon savory, or lemongrass.

It's one reason I rarely use herb or spice blends. I prefer to keep things separate, so I can vary the amount of each that I add to dishes.