Semiserious Chefs

The inspiration for this blend came from Penzys Spice’s Florida Pepper. I LOVED the course grain of the pepper and its intense lemoniness. They also use orange zest. Brilliant! In playing around to make my own blend, I quickly discovered how perfectly citric acid* can be used to bring the exact amount of lemon you desire to your spice. Next, the most important addition, was the choice of paprika to round out the blend with more depth. Lastly, we all know that garlic and lemon go really well, so I decided this would be a garlic lemon pepper blend.

I love the use of paprika in this mix. Paprika is a chili, but over time Spanish monks bred their particular chilies to contain more sweetness and less heat. This doesn’t mean that all paprikas are equal. Some paprika powders include the addition of spicier peppers. Explore different types of paprika to decide what works well for you. Some are labeled as Sweet, while others boast being either Spanish or Hungarian. I would even go so far as to say ground California or New Mexico chilies might work very well.

Note that this recipe calls for 1 teaspoons of course ground black pepper. If you use fine ground it will require much less; probably only 1/2 to 3/4 teaspoon. In addition, if you want more heat in your blend a simple dash of Cayenne or De Arbol will do the trick. My other word of advice would be to not overdo the citric acid. Lastly, adding fine grated lemon, lime, or even orange zest can really fill this blend out beautifully, but made simply as-is it is a really fine blend.

*Citric Acid can usually be found where ever bulk herbs are sold. It is a white powder, similar in texture to salt. It is what they use coat sour gummy candies, and is also the second ingredient to baking soda for making fizzy bath bombs. Good stuff, very useful, and certainly cheap enough to keep a baggy on-hand.